DA to seek inquiry for Jiba’s fitness to hold office

31 August 2015

Note to Editors: The following remarks were delivered by the DA Leader outside the headquarters of the National Prosecuting Authority in Pretoria. He was joined by DA National Spokesperson, Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL, and DA Shadow Minister of Justice, Adv. Glynnis Breytenbach MP. 

The Democratic Alliance has come to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) this morning to take a stand against the erosion of independence and legitimacy of this institution by President Jacob Zuma.

In April this year the DA formally requested that the President conduct an inquiry into the fitness to hold office of Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Nomgcobo Jiba. This followed several formal requests made by the then NDPP, Mxolisi Nxasana in a similar vein.

These request have fallen on deaf ears and we will not accept that. We will therefore request that the President make an urgent decision on whether to suspend Ms Jiba pending an Inquiry into her fitness to hold office by 1 September, failing which we will have no option but to approach the courts to compel the President to do so.

It is clear that neither the President, nor the head of the NPA, Adv. Shaun Abrahams, have learned from the appointment of Menzi Simelane that was overturned by the Constitutional Court who declared it irrational.

In a questionable decision, Adv. Abrahams recently announced earlier this month that the NPA would not be pursuing the charges offraud and perjury against Ms Jiba despite the overwhelming prima facie evidence against her. Instead Adv. Abrahams made the decision to appoint her as the head of National Specialised Prosecution Services.

Ms Jiba has repeatedly demonstrated that she is unfit to serve in a top office of the NPA and is currently facing a bid to see her disbarred by the South African Bar Council.

We cannot entrust the investigation and prosecution of high profile individuals, including President Zuma, to someone who was expressly found by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to be unfit for office and found to be dishonest by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. Similarly the Inquiry headed up by retired judge Zak Jacoob found Jiba’s conduct to be wholly unbecoming of a person of her station who treated the Inquiry with disdain by refusing to cooperate with its directives.

The appointment of Ms Jiba is a further example of how the President is using cadre deployment to shield his interests and those of his friends. In a free and fair society no one should be above the law.

The independence of the NPA is vital to ensuring that corrupt officials are held to account for the misappropriation and theft of public funds. As long as they feel free from the threat of accountability they will continue to loot and plunder state coffers at the expense of South African citizens.

The DA will not tolerate the destruction of our constitutional democracy by the President and his cronies.

During the course of this week the DA will therefore be announcing steps to firewall the institutions of our democracy against the forces that seek to capture them for their personal benefit.

Our democracy is only as strong as its institutions, which are increasingly under threat. The DA will continue to lead the charge for government free from corruption that will prioritise the interests of those they were elected to serve.

Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane, August 31 2015