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AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit in a letter to Adv. Shamila Batohi, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, argued that the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) continued refusal to prosecute Nomgcobo Jiba, previous head of the NPA, for fraud and perjury or to make private prosecution possible by issuing a nolle prosequi-certificate, is irrational. 

According to Adv. Gerrie Nel, Head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, this irrational conduct either points to the political protection of certain individuals with connections in the NPA, or the ineptness of the NPA to prosecute uncomplicated matters such as this one.

The Private Prosecution Unit in April 2021 informed Batohi that she had left AfriForum with no other choice but to bring a mandamus application to force the NPA to give effect to a court order*, which determines that Jiba must be prosecuted on these charges. The NDPP’s reaction was that the matter had been referred to the Investigative Directorate (ID) and that the prosecution of Jiba could not proceed before the ID understood the “broader issues” of the matter and that these issues had to be finalised before a decision about the prosecution of Jiba could be taken.

“It is now 11 months later and the NPA’s sustained position that the bringing of a mandamus application to force them to make a decision about the prosecution of Jiba, would be premature, has lost all credibility. It seems that the NPA is keeping the public hanging and undermining justice in the hope that the case against Jiba will disappear. The NPA is apparently trying to achieve this by way of unreasonable delays and superficial replies to any inquiries about the matter. We will not allow these charges to simply disappear,” says Adv. Nel.

*The Northern Gauteng High Court in Pretoria already in 2015 ruled in Freedom Under Law v NDPP that the matter against Jiba should be placed on the roll again.

Issued by AfriForum