Commentators have described NPA head Shaun Abrahams as a legal nobody.
President Jacob Zuma will not suspend national director of public prosecutions Shaun Abrahams.
Neither will he suspend North Gauteng director of public prosecutions Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi and the acting head of the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit, Dr Torie Pretorius.
This follows their submissions to the president on why they should not be suspended, pending the outcome of the inquiry into their fitness to hold office.
The presidency on Friday said, in considering the matter, Zuma had to place weight to the provisions of section 179 of the Constitution, which guaranteed the independence of the National Prosecuting Authority and those of its officials.
“Having considered the submissions received from the three prosecutors and concerns raised by the Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom Under Law regarding their conduct, in as far as it relates to the decision to charge and review the charges against Minister Pravin Gordhan, Mr Ivan Pillay and Mr Oupa Magushula, the president could not find substantiation for the claim that Advocate Abrahams, Advocate Mzinyathi and Dr Pretorius’s conducts were actuated by ulterior motive or any other improper motive which would give rise to a charge of misconduct or that they are no longer fit and proper to hold office.”
There was no prima facie evidence pointing to the conduct of the three prosecutors constituting misconduct or lack of fitness and propriety, he said.
“Taking the aforementioned into consideration, the president decided not to provisionally suspend Advocates Abrahams and Mzinyathi and Dr Pretorius and hold an inquiry into their fitness to hold office as envisaged in section 12 (6) read with 14 (3) of the Act.” – News24