Pretoria - Former State prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach told the Mokgoro inquiry on Tuesday that suspended Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba did not have the skills or experience to be appointed as the acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP).
Retired Constitutional Court justice Yvonne Mokgoro is investigating the fitness of former prosecutions bosses to hold office.
Breytenbach detailed her working relationship with Jiba and suspended Special Director of Public Prosecutions Lawrence Mrwebi.
She said people were taken aback when Jiba was promoted from Director of Public Prosecutions to Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions after coming back from suspension and then a year later promoted as the acting NDPP.
"She wasn’t terribly productive in terms of getting matters ready for court. I took the view that she was out of the loop while on suspension and needed time to get into the groove.
"Jiba did not have the skills or experience to hold the position as acting NDPP.
"She lacked the requisite experience, I had misgivings about her integrity. I certainly held the view that she lacked the life experience and she had never done anything within the NPA that was of such a phenomenal nature that justified this inordinate amount of elevation to a post above people, in my view, who were more competent.
"You need more life experience and unquestionable integrity," Breytenbach said.
Breytenbach said there was a lot of controversy surrounding Jiba including the trumped-up charges against former Prosecutor Gerrie Nel and her involvement in the matter of the late SAPS National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
Jiba and Mrwebi have been hauled before the inquiry after damning judgments against them including prosecuting former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen for racketeering without evidence and dropping murder charges against former Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.
Mdluli stood accused of having murdered the boyfriend of his ex-lover but the charges were mysteriously dropped.
Mdluli was also accused of fraud after he bought two BMWs he secured with a loan from Atlantis Nissan, the company which supplied vehicles for Crime Intelligence.
The charges were also withdrawn allegedly on the basis of issues related to security and intelligence concerns.
Mokgoro who is chairing the inquiry asked Breytenbach if she would say Jiba made poor decisions on the Mdluli corruption case due to inexperience.
"I don't think so, I would love to say it is but I think the reasons were nefarious," Breytenbach said.
The hearing continues.