The law overseeing the NPA states that any national director or deputy director must be a “fit and proper person” and possess legal qualifications that entitle him or her to practise in a court of law.
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In a tough judgment, Judges Francis Legodi and Wendy Hughes in the Pretoria high court on Thursday morning concurred with the General Council of the Bar of South Africa’s (GCB) contention that Jiba, deputy national director of public prosecutions, and special director of public prosecutions Mrwebi are not “fit and proper” for their jobs.
Breytenbach said Jiba’s conduct had previously been slated by the high court in Pretoria and the Supreme Court of Appeal for her handling of the matter involving suspended head of crime intelligence Richard Mdluli.
The application by the General Council of the Bar of SA for the duo and South Gauteng head of prosecutions Sibongile Mzinyathi to be struck off the roll was made at the request of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). A spokesman for the NPA said it was considering the ruling.
“But instead, she flouted every rule in the fight against crime”.
“The names of Ms Nomgcobo Jiba and Mr Lawrence Sithembiso Mrwebi are hereby struck from the roll of advocates”, said Legodi.
Among the cases was Jiba’s authorisation of racketeering charges against former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen.
Jiba and Mrwebi have been ordered to pay the costs of the application and counsel. “However, she did make a point that I must always stress that she respects the judiciary, she respects the decision of the court”, he said.
However, Advocate Majavu said his client, Jiba, was appealing the judgement, which if allowed to stand would have an adverse impact on her.
It remains to be seen whether Jiba and Mrwebi will appeal the ruling, and what action, if any, the Presidency will take against them.
“We are working on her application for leave to appeal which we hope to file in the next few days”, Advocate Zola Majavu said.
“At this stage‚ the court has found she is not fit to be on the roll”.
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The judge was startled by explanations from Jiba that she never received emails that she was supposed to have replied to, that she missed deadlines that she should have known about, and found that she “passed the buck” on having to explain why the charges against Mdluli were withdrawn.
