Pretoria - The decision to withdraw charges against NPA deputy director of public Prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba was legally sound, newly appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams said on Tuesday.
“Late yesterday (Monday) afternoon I received (deputy national director of public prosecutions responsible for the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit, advocate Marshall Mokgatle’s decision and opinion in which he decided to decline prosecuting advocate Nomgcobo Jiba on the charges of perjury and fraud,” Abrahams told reporters at the National Prosecuting Authority headquarters in Pretoria.
“I’ve been assured that this decision is rational and sound in law and that there are no reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution. As such, this matter will be withdrawn in court tomorrow (Wednesday).”
Abrahams read Mokgatle’s full email to the media.
“The decision taken by the then acting NDPP, advocate Jiba, to authorise the racketeering prosecution of Johan Booysen and others was arrived at after briefings by the prosecution team and presentation of a memorandum for her perusal. Section 78 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) of 1998 provides that ‘any person authorised to perform any function in terms of this Act shall not in his or her personal capacity be liable for anything done in good faith’.”
“The aforementioned provision clearly absolves Ms Jiba from any liability including criminal prosecution for having exercised the power in terms of the empowering provisions of POCA. There are no prospects of a successful prosecution and I accordingly decline to prosecute advocate Nomgcobo Jiba for fraud and perjury”.
Abrahams said that after reading Mokgatle’s opinion on the matter, he had also sought a further legal view from another director of public prosecutions.
“In that opinion, it is also recommended that a decision to decline to prosecute advocate Jiba be made,” said Abrahams.
There was ululation, cheers and whistles in the briefing room from NPA staff as Abrahams made the remarks.
Jiba was set to go on trial on Wednesday on charges which related to her decision to prosecute Booysen, head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal, on racketeering charges.
In February last year, Durban High Court Judge Trevor Gorven threw out the charges against Booysen, who was suspended at the time. The judge went on to describe Jiba’s decision to charge Booysen as “arbitrary, [and] offend the principle of legality and, therefore, the rule of law and were unconstitutional”.
In his judgement, Gorven agreed with Booysen’s assertion that had Jiba lied about having certain statements before her when she decided to prosecute, and could therefore not have used them to make her decision.
Booysen had been accused of running a criminal enterprise consisting of members of the former Cato Manor Organised Crime Unit that he headed up.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Abrahams was planning to drop charges against Jiba.
The Democratic Alliance then threatened to haul Abrahams before parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services.
ANA