‘She’ll remain the mother of our boys’ - Malusi Gigaba explains silence on Norma’s ‘unlawful arrest’

Former finance minister Malusi Gigaba has addressed his silence on the case brought against his estranged wife, Nomachule “Norma” Mngoma, saying she remains the mother of his children.

Gigaba was asked to weigh in on the findings by the Pretoria high court which ruled on Thursday that Hawks officers abused their power and positions when they arrested Mngoma in July last year. 

“I’m quiet because, way after our divorce, my wife will remain the mother of our two boys,” said Gigaba. 

Mngoma was arrested after allegedly damaging a Mercedes-Benz G vehicle that was being driven by her husband by repeatedly scratching it with a vegetable peeler.

There was also an allegation, leading to a charge of crimen injuria, that she had sent an insulting text message to a friend of Gigaba’s.

Sunday Times Daily reported that judge Cassim Sardiwalla said reasons given by Hawks Capt Kenneth Mavuso and Sgt Norton Ndabambi for their involvement in the spat between Mngoma and Gigaba were unsustainable. He also found Gigaba abused his power by involving the Hawks in his domestic spat. 

The two said they were part of a team mandated to investigate a conspiracy to commit murder after Gigaba laid a complaint with the Hawks, under oath, that he had been informed of a plot to kill him.

The court order declared the decision to apply for Mngoma’s arrest warrant and its execution unlawful, but the judgment did not deal with the lawfulness of the prosecution. 

The former minister said he “was never a party to the case which gave rise to this finding against me”.

His response was met with questions, to which he has not responded, about his involvement in the arrests.

Mngoma appeared in the Pretoria magistrate's court on Friday in connection with the criminal case against her. It was postponed to March 26 to allow her legal team and the prosecution time to study Thursday’s judgement.

Mngoma’s counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu, said his client’s prosecution was “the fruits of a poisoned tree” and it cannot survive.

However, prosecutor, Hilke Janse van Rensburg said that an unlawful arrest did not necessarily become an unlawful prosecution and quoted case law to support this.

On Friday Mngoma took to social media to thank her legal representatives, Mpofu and advocate Tembeka Ngukaitobi. 

“What a journey. So grateful to these legal giants,” she wrote in the caption of her picture.