NPA chief ‘escapes guillotine’ by resigning
Moipone Noko, the North West head of public prosecutions who has been under fire for dropping charges against high-ranking politicians and individuals, escaped the “guillotine” after she resigned in the face of an inquiry into her fitness to hold office, civil society organisations say.
“She’s got to avoid what would have been an inevitable outcome of that investigation,” said Corruption Watch director David Lewis. “I mean the high court, on a number of occasions, found her seriously wanting. Her departure is a good step in the cleanup of the NPA.”
His comments come after President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a statement saying his office accepted the recommendation of National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shamila Batohi that Noko should be allowed to vacate her office as part of restoring public trust in the agency.
Noko was appointed KwaZulu-Natal director of public prosecutions in 2013 by former president Jacob Zuma, despite reportedly being investigated for maladministration, favouritism and abuse of her office. City Press, at the time of her appointment, reported that Noko had decided to withdraw charges of intimidation and harassment against one of Zuma’s wives, Tobeka Madiba-Zuma. The domestic worker of MadibaZuma had reportedly laid a complaint of intimidation against the president’s wife in 2013.
During her time as head of the NPA in KwaZulu-Natal, Noko controversially dropped corruption charges against Zuma’s son Edward’s business partner, Thoshan Panday, and was criticised over her handling of the decision to institute a racketeering prosecution against Johan Booysen, the former KwaZuluNatal Hawks boss who had investigated Panday.
An NPA report has found that Noko and state advocate Sello Maema allegedly helped former NPA boss Shaun Abrahams to bring unsubstantiated charges against Booysen. Noko’s decisions were later overturned by the courts. Noko moved to take up the same position of NPA head in North West in 2019.
Noko was likely to face the same fate as former deputy national director of public prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba, who was axed in 2019 together with the former special director of public prosecutions, Lawrence Mrwebi, after they were found to be unfit for office by an inquiry chaired by retired Constitutional Court justice Yvonne Mokgoro. Jiba was considered Zuma’s goto person in the NPA, Corruption
Watch said. Lewis said another reason for Noko resigning could be because of “financial advantages” that she could lose if she was fired.
“I think she has escaped the guillotine,” he said.
Ahmed Kathrada Foundation director Neeshan Balton characterised Noko’s departure from the NPA as a “very important step” that strengthened the NPA significantly. However, her resignation pointed to an anomaly that needed to be dealt with, he said.
“The national director of public prosecutions essentially has no say on who their deputies are in these provinces,” Balton said. “The bigger issues that have to be dealt with are the future appointments and where authority should lie. It’s the president who has to accept a resignation and not the national director of public prosecutions.”
Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac) executive secretary Lawson Naidoo said while it was a desire to equip the NPA with people who are committed to the constitution and the rule of law, it would have been useful if Noko had faced an inquiry into her fitness to hold office because of the “serious allegations” against her conduct during her controversial term in office.