Ex-Hawks boss set to tear into Jiba
● Nomgcobo Jiba’s questionable prosecutorial decisions will come back to haunt her this week when former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Johan Booysen takes the stand at the Mokgoro inquiry.
The Sunday Times understands that Booysen’s testimony paints a scathing picture of the now-suspended deputy national director of public prosecutions (NDPP), whose fitness to hold office is being probed by former constitutional court justice Yvonne Mokgoro and her panel.
Jiba has also been named at the Zondo commission as one of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) officials who allegedly received bribes from Bosasa.
Former Bosasa executive Angelo Agrizzi claims the bribes were made to protect Bosasa bosses from prosecution.
Booysen’s testimony about Jiba’s decision to institute charges of racketeering against him, a move that ended his three-decade career, may be what seals Jiba’s fate at the NPA.
Sources close to the commission said that in his affidavit, Booysen maps out a timeline of litigation since Jiba, in 2012, acted on allegations that he and his team ran a criminal enterprise referred to as the “Cato Manor death squad”.
Fraud and perjury
He is said to specifically draw on the ruling of Durban high court judge Trevor Govern in 2014 that exonerated Booysen and further implicated Jiba in fraud and perjury.
Using this context, Booysen in his affidavit takes aim at Jiba and her former boss, Shaun Abrahams.
Booysen is expected to paint a picture of how Jiba “rode roughshod” over the NPA’s code of conduct and the constitution.
The former Hawks officer is expected to tell the commission that Jiba’s decision to authorise his prosecution was irrational because it was influenced by false statements made against him.
Jiba is accused of lying when she told the courts in a sworn affidavit that she was in possession of statements that incriminated Booysen before she made the decision to prosecute him. It was found that she had signed the authorisation to have him prosecuted weeks prior to some of the statements being deposed.
Booysen will argue that none of the statements upon which Jiba relied link him to the offences he was charged with, and that she relied on hearsay evidence when making her decision.
To back his arguments, Booysen is expected to cite a 2017 judgment by the North Gauteng High Court that set aside a decision by Abrahams, when he was appointed NDPP by then president Jacob Zuma, to withdraw the charges against Jiba.
When approached for comment, Booysen, who is expected to appear before the inquiry on Friday, declined to discuss his affidavit.