NPA bosses’ heads roll
‘UNREPENTANT AND DISHONEST’
UNREPENTANT and a dishonest person – these were the words used by a judge to describe deputy national Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Nomgcobo Jiba.
In addition, Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit head advocate Lawrence Mrwebi was referred to as a liar and someone who seemed to have forgotten about the oath he took when he was admitted as an advocate.
In making the damning findings in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria yesterday, Judge Francis Legodi put an end to Jiba and Mrwebi’s careers as advocates. Judge Legodi, in a judgment concurred with by Judge Wendy Hughes, ordered that the pair be struck from the roll of advocates.
The judge did not mince his words when he commented on how Jiba and Mrwebi, especially, dealt with the dropping of charges against suspended crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.
The two judges were adamant that neither Jiba nor Mrwebi was fit to practise any longer as advocates.
But Jiba and Mrwebi said they would be applying for leave to appeal. Mrwebi said it was “painful” that the court found that he should be struck off the roll.
Judge Johan Kriegler, of Freedom Under Law, said he hoped prosecutions boss Shaun Abrahams would now act against Jiba – his second in command – and give her the boot. “Both she and Mrwebi can no longer hold office, as they are no longer advocates.”
Abrahams’s office simply said he had noted the judgment and would reflect on it as to the way forward. Justice Minister Michael Masutha declined to comment.
The judgment followed an application by the General Council of the Bar of South Africa (GCB), which mostly based its application on remarks made by judges regarding the conduct of the advocates during three high-profile and political cases.
These were in the litigation between the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Freedom Under Law regarding the decision to drop corruption charges against Mdluli, the socalled Jacob Zuma spy tapes, and their handling of the matter of KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Johan Booysen.
Last night Booysen said: “I do not wish to comment. I have sufficiently ventilated the unconstitutional role she (Jiba) played in having authorised my prosecution, which was set aside by the High Court in Durban.”
The bar council also asked for the axing of North Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions, Sibongile Mzinyathi. But the judges only had praise for the advocate in turning down the application. “Mzinyathi, in my view, should be commended for standing firm against Mrwebi’s withdrawal of the charges against Mdluli,” Judge Legodi said.
But it was a different story when the judge dealt with Jiba and Mrwebi, whose conduct he condemned. The judge said: “There was everything untoward about the decision to withdraw the charges against Mdluli, as there was a prima facie case against Mdluli in the corruption and fraud charges.
“Jiba was steadfast in doing everything in her power to ensure that the charges against Mdluli were permanently withdrawn. By doing so she was mala fide (acted in bad faith) and displayed ulterior motive and thus offended against the rule of law and the constitution.”
He also criticised the evidence given by Mrwebi in the disciplinary hearing of Glynis Breytenbach and said his evidence was patently dishonestly given. “He seems to have forgotten the oath he took as a witness, but also as an officer of the court when he was admitted in 1988… There cannot be any excuse for his lies.”
The judge also found Mrwebi to have been dishonest and that he sought to mislead the court in the Freedom Under Law matter in which the NGO asked that charges be reinstated against Mdluli.
In referring to Jiba and Mrwebi’s handling of the Mdluli matter, the judge said: “I cannot believe that two officers of the court who hold such high positions in the prosecuting authority will stoop so low for the protection and defence of one individual who had been implicated in serious offences.
“In fact, taking into account the kind of personality (referring to Mdluli) Mrwebi and Jiba had to deal with, they should have stood firm and vigorous by persisting to prosecute Mdluli on fraud and corruption charges. They not only brought the prosecuting authority and the legal profession into disrepute, but also brought the good office of the President of the Republic into disrepute by failing to prosecute Mdluli.”
While welcoming the judgment, Breytenbach said the fact that Jiba was still in office, without an inquiry, was proof of presidential protection. “If the president is serious about restoring the integrity of the NPA he must fire her or make her the subject of a probe that sees her discharged.”