Booysen vindicated by Jiba and Mrwebi being struck off
SUSPENDED KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen has laid into the deputy prosecutions head, Nomgcobo Jiba and her “cronies” for placing the criminal justice system under siege.
Jiba and specialised commercial crimes unit head Lawrence Mrwebi were struck off as advocates on Thursday owing to the manner in which they dealt with the charges against suspended crime intelligence boss, Richard Mdluli.
A Pretoria High Court handed down a ruling against Jiba and Mrwebi after an application by the General Council of the Bar of South Africa on the pair’s conduct during three high-profile and political cases.
The cases were between the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Freedom Under Law on the decision to drop corruption charges against Mdluli, the so-called Jacob Zuma spy tapes, and their handling of Booysen’s case.
In his ruling, Judge Francis Legodi effectively put an end to Jiba and Mrwebi’s careers as advocates and sounded a death knell on their jobs as head honchos in the NPA.
Booysen who has published a book titled Blood on their Hands, which trashes the NPA’s top brass under Jiba and Mrwebi, said he felt vindicated by Legodi’s judgment on the pair who had tormented him.
His book, in the main, covers his five-year on-again-offagain prosecution attempts over alleged racketeering as head of the now-disbanded Cato Manor Serious and Violent Crimes Unit.
The unit, set up to probe cash-in-transit heists, ATM bombings and robberies, was allegedly involved in the killing of innocent people, but Booysen claimed as provincial head of the Hawks he was not operationally involved with the unit. He said with every shooting reported he ensured it was investigated. “Thanks to Jiba, her cronies and lackeys now you can Google my name and you will read there was Booysen’s death squad,” he said referring to the controversial Cator Manor unit.
“I wrote the book to set the record straight. I wanted to prove there was no death squad, that there was something (else) behind the allegations.”
Booysen said he had extensively dealt with Jiba’s relationship with Mdluli and that Legodi’s judgment confirmed this. “In a way I feel vindicated by the judgment,” he added.
“To some extent the criminal justice system is under siege and I think it’s important the public knows about it. It is for that reason I decided to expose the rot in the system.”
His comments came after former NPA head Mxolisi Nxasana also said he had been vindicated by the judgment over the pair whom he said he had repeatedly asked be suspended for misconduct.
Booysen, in his book, detailed how he had crossed paths with prominent political figures, controversial businessmen and even his superiors in his investigations into corruption. Some of the figures he encountered include President Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward, Durban businessman, Thoshan Panday and suspended KZN police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni.
Booysen said he had had a good relationship with Ngobeni until he began investigating Panday. Initially, he said, he could not understand why there was pressure to stop the investigation until it became apparent that Panday had a relationship with Ngobeni.
He had also once met with Zuma’s son, Edward, who told him he was a silent business partner of Panday’s and wanted Booysen to release a R15 million payment from the police to Panday which had been frozen pending investigation. “I refused and advised him to rather go to Panday and recover his investments from him,” he said.