DA's Breytenbach bays for heads of Jiba and Mrwebi

Suspended senior National Prosecuting Authority officials Lawrence Mrwebi and Nomgcobo Jiba. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)

Suspended senior National Prosecuting Authority officials Lawrence Mrwebi and Nomgcobo Jiba. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Apr 26, 2019

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Johannesburg - Calls are growing for suspended deputy National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Nomgcobo Jiba and another top prosecutor, Lawrence Mrwebi, to be prosecuted following a damning report into their conduct in several high-profile cases.

DA MP and former prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach on Thursday demanded that the NPA seriously consider prosecuting the two.

She said the recommendations of the inquiry chaired by retired Constitutional Court justice Yvonne Mokgoro signalled “a great day for the NPA and the criminal justice system as a whole”.

Mokgoro recommended Jiba and Mrwebi be removed from their posts.

Breytenbach said the findings against Jiba and Mrwebi meant that they effectively sold out to the highest bidder and in the process played a massive role in the state capture mechanism which allowed the scale of corruption the country had witnessed to proceed with almost guaranteed impunity. 

She said Mokgoro’s report vindicated all the individuals who testified before it and demonstrated the levels to which Jiba and Mrwebi stooped to accommodate their political masters.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, said Breytenbach, could do nothing else but fire both Jiba and Mrwebi. Emeritus Professor Shadrack Gutto noted that Mokgoro’s inquiry had been set up only to establish the fitness of Jiba and Mrwebi to hold office.

During the inquiry’s hearings, evidence was led that it wasn’t clear whether Jiba was an attorney or an advocate before June 2010 and even after her appointment as deputy national director of public prosecutions.

Gutto said the only criminal charge that could be brought against Jiba on the basis of the report would be her passing herself off as someone she was not. He said Jiba and Mrwebi could challenge the report once Ramaphosa had reached a decision regarding the recommendations.

He said Jiba could also be asked to pay back money and benefits accrued if it was established she was not admitted as an advocate or attorney. Freedom Under Law executive officer Nicole Fritz said the most important thing in the report was the recommendation that the pair be removed, as this would restore public trust in the NPA.

Political Bureau

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