NPA's Jiba gets Zuma into yet another fix

The deputy head of the National Prosecuting Authority, Nomgcobo Jiba, struck from the roll of advocates by the Pretoria High Court yesterday, should be suspended immediately and an inquiry into her fitness to hold office instituted.

This is the opinion of a constitutional law specialist at the University of Cape Town, Professor Pierre de Vos.

He said the law required that President Jacob Zuma place Jiba on special leave and convene a board of inquiry into her fitness to hold office in terms of the NPA Act.

Jibaused "duck-and-dive tactics" and pursued a "steadfast" campaign to get fraud and corruption charges against one of Zuma's self-proclaimed loyalists, the former head of the police's crime intelligence unit, Richard Mdluli, dropped, the High Court said.

Jiba is to appeal the ruling.

"The president can suspend her only once he's appointed a board of inquiry into her fitness to hold office, so we'll have to see what he does, whether he's going to wait for the whole court process to unfold," De Vos said.

• Jiba‚ Mrwebi could lose NPA jobs after being struck from roll of advocatesNomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi‚ executives at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)‚ have been struck from the roll of advocates.

"In the meantime we have a difficult situation because there's now somebody that the court found to be not 'fit and proper' [to occupy her position] and who is not legally entitled to do the job [because she is no longer an advocate] and if she's not suspended that creates great difficulty," he said.

Glynnis Breytenbach, the DA MP who was at the centre of the Mdluli saga when she was an NPA prosecutor before becoming a legislator, said Zuma had a duty to suspend Jiba and the head of the NPA's commercial crimes unit, Lawrence Mrwebi, who was also disbarred yesterday.

Zuma's spokesman, Bongani Ngqulunga, did not respond to requests for comment.

Pretoria High Court Judge Francis Legodi's damning findings yesterday followed a court application by the General Council of the Bar to have the two NPA senior managers removed from the roll of practising advocates.

Jiba and Mrwebi cannot keep their jobs while disbarred.

• DA‚ Cope call for Zuma to fire JibaThe Democratic Alliance and the Congress of the People have called on President Jacob Zuma to fire National Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba without delay. 

Zola Majavu, who represented Jiba and Mrwebi in the High Court , said the ruling would be appealed.

Former NPA boss Mxolisi Nxasana, who complained of Jiba and Mrwebi's conduct to the General Council of the Bar, welcomed the ruling.

"It's a landmark ruling. They now have to leave the NPA. If I were still there I would ask the president to grant them special leave while they are still appealing. It's not wise to keep them [at work] with this judgment over their heads," said Nxasana.

Luvuyo Mfaku, spokesman for NPA head Shaun Abrahams, had no comment.

Shortly after Abrahams took over the top job at the NPA he ordered that a separate case involving perjury against Jiba be re-evaluated.

A decision was taken that she had acted in "good faith" and charges against her were withdrawn.

Jiba has over the years been heard by 12 judges on four benches in three high-profile matters, including the "spy tapes" saga - leading to accusations that she was protecting Zuma or his allies.

Warren Freedman, associate professor of law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said yesterday's judgment was another dent in the credibility of the NPA.

• DA loses in bid to have Jiba suspendedThe Western Cape High Court on Monday dismissed an application by the Democratic Alliance (DA) asking the court to force President Jacob Zuma to suspend Deputy National Prosecuting Authority head‚ advocate Nomgcobo Jiba.

"It's an indictment on the NPA ... our judges rely on the honesty and integrity of counsel who appear before them and if those lawyers are not being truthful it affects the ability of the courts to properly perform their function," he said.

Legodi said Jiba had "lied" and "washed her hands at every given opportunity" in dropping the corruption charges against Mdluli in 2013. Legodi found Jiba lied about submission and preparation of answering affidavits by private lawyers that the NPA had hired to advise on dealing with the Mdluli case. Legodi lambasted Jiba for deciding with Mrwebi to withdraw charges against Mdluli despite the objections of Sibongile Mzinyathi, who at the time was head of public prosecutions in the Gauteng division of the NPA and had led the investigation into Mdluli.

"In my view, Jiba was steadfast to do everything in her power to ensure that charges against Mdluli were permanently withdrawn. This was despite the prima facie evidence against Mdluli . [This] displayed ulterior motives and thus offended against the rule of law and the constitution," Legodi's judgment reads.

The court found Mrwebi flouted the rule of law and the constitution by refusing to prosecute Mdluli even though there was a prima facie case against him.

"I cannot believe these two officers of the court who hold such high positions in the prosecuting authority would stoop so low for the protection and defence of one individual who had been implicated in serious crimes," Legodi said.