Former Constitutional Court Justice Yvonne Mokgoro. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Former Constitutional Court Justice Yvonne Mokgoro has delivered her report into whether deputy prosecutions head Nomgcobo Jiba and special director Lawrence Mrwebi are fit to hold office at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In a statement on Monday morning, Mokgoro said she would be meeting with Ramaphosa “for a formal presentation and handover of the report this week”. Mokgoro’s findings as set out in the report are yet to be announced.
The inquiry, which held public hearings over six weeks, was established by the president under the NPA Act after the two were roundly criticised in a number of court judgments in high profile and politically sensitive cases.
Under the NPA Act, deputy national directors and special directors may only be removed after an inquiry into their fitness for office. Ramaphosa’s decision — which is expected to be announced after he has examined the report — may also be reversed by Parliament.
When Ramaphosa announced in August last year that he had established the inquiry he said the “allegations made in … various judgments have been in the public domain many years now”.
The judgments in which the two were castigated were litigation over the prosecution of former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen, the litigation over the dropping of charges against former crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli and the marathon battle over the “spy tapes” — the recordings of phone conversations that were used to drop corruption charges against former president Jacob Zuma.
Gauteng’s high court Judge John Murphy said their conduct in the Mdluli application was “unbecoming of persons of such high rank in the public service”. In the Booysen decision, KwaZulu-Natal high court Judge Trevor Gorven said Jiba had responded to an accusation of mendacity with “deafening silence”. And Supreme Court of Appeal Justice Mahomed Navsa said Jiba’s conduct in the spy tapes litigation was “not worthy of the office of NDPP [national director of public prosecutions]”.
Meanwhile judgment is also awaited from the Constitutional Court in the case brought by the General Council of the Bar, which sought to have the two struck from the roll of advocates.