Zuma gives Abrahams 14 days to say why he shouldn’t be suspended

The national director of public prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams, and two colleagues have two weeks to convince President Jacob Zuma why they should not be suspended.

This is after Zuma asked Abrahams, director of public prosecutions Sibongile Mzinyathi and acting special director of public prosecutions Torie Pretorius for written representations saying why they should not be suspended and why he should not institute an inquiry into their fitness to hold office.

• Rights groups go for bloodThe only remaining way to protect South Africa from a constitutional crisis is a legal challenge by civil society to force President Jacob Zuma to take action against National Prosecuting Authority boss Shaun Abrahams.

Abrahams said they were preparing a response to the president.

The president's request is in documents that form part of Abrahams' responding affidavit to submissions by Freedom Under Law and The Helen Suzman Foundation to Zuma asking him to suspend the trio pending an inquiry.

This was in relation to the way in which the prosecution and subsequent withdrawal of charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and two former SA Revenue Service staff was handled. Last month Abrahams announced the withdrawal of charges against Gordhan, Ivan Pillay and Oupa Magashule.

Gordhan was to face two charges of fraud linked to his approval of early retirement for Pillay, a former SARS deputy commissioner, and then reappointing him on contract in 2010, during the minister's first stint as head of the Treasury.

• FUL and HSF take Zuma to court to get Abrahams suspendedFreedom Under Law (FUL) and the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) have served an urgent application to order President Jacob Zuma to suspend National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Shaun Abrahams and two prosecutors pending an enquiry into their fitness to hold office.

Abrahams had come under pressure since he announced Gordhan had been summonsed to appear in court on November 2 on two charges of fraud. In his responding papers, Abrahams says Gordhan might yet face charges regarding the "rogue" investigative unit at SARS.

"The investigation is not complete and no decision has been made one way or the other. It is only once the investigation has been completed that a decision to prosecute or not to prosecute will be made," the responding affidavit reads. In the affidavit Abrahams argues the application by Freedom Under Law and The Helen Suzman Foundation was not urgent.

"The applicant offers no more than broad-brushed generalised reasons why this matter should be heard as a matter of urgency," the papers read.

He challenges the organisations' assertion that if the trio remains in office it would jeopardise "dozens of critical prosecutions and investigations daily".

• Did the Presidency tell a fib about Abrahams letter?Did someone at the Presidency fib when they denied ever receiving a letter urging President Jacob Zuma to suspend National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams or face legal action?

"[The] applicants have not identified the prosecutions and investigations upon which they rely nor have they suggested the basis on which they say we would jeopardise those . The applicants are simply unhappy with the fact that a decision was made to prosecute the minister (Gordhan)," Abrahams argues.

In a statement late yesterday Presidency spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said the organisations raised the concerns with the manner in which the three advocates conducted Gordhan's prosecution and those of Pillay and Magashula.

Abrahams argues that directing the president to suspend employees of a constitutional institution would "clearly violate the doctrine of separation of powers".

The Helen Suzman Foundation's legal researcher, Piet Olivier, welcomed the decision by the president to issue a notice of his intention to request reasons to not suspend the trio.

• NGOs set to go to court to get Abrahams suspendedFreedom Under Law (FUL) and the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) seem set to proceed with court action to get National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams suspended.

"We are hoping for the president to remove advocate Abrahams and his colleagues because we believe they are not fit for the office. This is a risk to the credibility of the NPA and the criminal justice system. We will be monitoring the proceedings closely," Olivier said.

Freedom Under Law said that it was studying Abrahams' responding papers and would respond today.

Abrahams' response also includes an exchange of letters with Hawks head Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza, in which Ntlemeza expresses dissatisfaction about the NPA's decision to drop charges against Gordhan.

"I encountered resistance from Lt-Gen Ntlemeza ... who strongly contended that the charges should not have been dropped," the affidavit reads.

Ntlemeza said it was the Hawks' view that Abrahams' decision to set aside the charges was not made in good faith on the evidence that the Hawks had gathered.

• We haven't received Abrahams inquiry letter: PresidencyThe presidency says it has not received a letter from the Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom Under Law calling for an inquiry into National Prosecuting Authority head Shaun Abrahams fitness to hold office.

"Rather it seems to us that you make [sic] this decision based on the noise made by politicians, civil society lobby groups, and the media sympathetic to the accused," Ntlemeza said.

In response Abrahams said: "I take umbrage at the very serious allegations you levelled against me of not having acted in good faith."

Abrahams' deputy, Nomgcobo Jiba, also faces possible suspension after the Pretoria High Court struck her from the roll of advocates. She is appealing the decision.

She has since been placed on special leave but has also had to give Zuma reasons why she should not be suspended.

- Additional reporting by TMG Digital/BDLive