Legalbrief | your legal news hub Friday 01 October 2021

It's no, no and no as Jiba takes stand

Nomgcobo Jiba, embattled deputy head of the NPA, was in full denial mode when giving testimony at the Mokgoro inquiry into her fitness for office yesterday, notes Legalbrief. Welcoming the opportunity to state her case publicly for the first time, she made it clear she had never accepted a bribe from anyone at Bosasa; that she did not act unlawfully when authorising charges against former KZN Hawks head Johan Booysen; and that former Crime Intelligence head Richard Mdluli was not a friend. Meanwhile, her colleague Lawrence Mrwebi, head of the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit, whose fitness for office is also under scrutiny, came under pressure over his role in refusing to prosecute Mdluli when his cross-examination got under way late yesterday.

Jiba used the occasion to appeal to the inquiry to bolster the prosecutorial independence of NPA, whatever the decision about her future may be. She told the inquiry – chaired by former Constitutional Court Justice Yvonne Mokgoro – that she was breaking years of silence to be ‘finally judged by persons whose integrity and sense of fairness I trust completely.’ According to a Mail & Guardian report, Jiba said she was dismayed by some of the evidence the inquiry has heard – in particular the testimony of former Pretoria head of the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit Glynnis Breytenbach and her fellow deputy national director, Willie Hofmeyr. She said their evidence, which called into question her rapid rise to the post of deputy national director and then to acting national director, ‘revealed a deep resentment that a young black African woman had been promoted to this leadership position’. Jiba testified about some of the allegations against her, including her authorisation of racketeering charges against Booysen, which was criticised by the KZN High Court. The racketeering charges related to what was publicly known as the ‘Cato Manor death squad’. A now discredited exposé by the Sunday Times newspaper alleged that the Durban Organised Crime Unit, whose office was in Cato Manor, had carried out the ‘extra-judicial killings’ of 28 people. Booysen told the inquiry that the documents upon which her decision to authorise the charges was based did not disclose any crime on his part, let alone racketeering. But Jiba said there was nothing unlawful about her authorisation of the charges, adding that killings by police officers had been gruesome. Though the police had claimed self-defence, there was no sign of a struggle on their part and this was something for the court to decide in any event, she said.

Jiba also denied that she was ever paid bribes by fallen facilities management company Bosasa. According to a BusinessLIVE report, she refuted allegations made to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture by former Bosasa chief operating officer Angelo Agrizzi that she, her suspended colleague Lawrence Mrwebi, and her then secretary Jackie Lephinka were paid by Bosasa. Agrizzi was expected to testify before the inquiry, but decided not to after he was criminally charged earlier this month. He had alleged that Jiba was paid R100 000, but she said she only gets a salary from the NPA. Agrizzi testified in January that during 2009 and 2010, he and Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson met former Correctional Services Commissioner Linda Mti to discuss the investigation into the company. ‘Mti suggested we needed to sort out certain individuals in the NPA so that we could curry favour, so that they could assist us … He told us we need to make up packages for certain people,’ Agrizzi said at the time. He named the people as Jiba, Mrwebi and Lephinka. Agrizzi said the three provided Mti with details of the status of the investigation into Bosasa and, in return, they would receive cash on a monthly basis. ‘Firstly, I want to state for the record, I have never been paid any sum of R100 000 by Mr Agrizzi, by Mr Mti, by Mr Watson and all of those names which are mentioned there,’ Jiba said. She said got briefed on the case, together with others, when she was acting NPA boss. Mokgoro asked her if she had responded to the allegations before the Zondo Commission. Jiba replied that her attorney has written to the inquiry.

Jiba was defiant about her relationship with Mdluli. A report on The Citizen site notes Colonel Kobus Roelofse, a Hawks officer appointed to investigate corruption allegations against Mdluli in 2011, told the commission previously that Jiba had flown to Durban with Mdluli, allegedly to meet someone from the ANC, saying he had seen invoices with Jiba’s name on them. ‘I know general Mdluli as an ordinary police officer. I know many police officials,’ was her curt response to questions about Mdluli. She was then specifically asked if he was her friend, to which she replied ‘no’. Asked whether the flight to Durban ever took place, she said: ‘I was never in any flight that gets paid for out of a secret services account. I suppose if I wanted a trip, and if I was able to get a trip, I would never have chosen a Durban one,’ noting she would have preferred a flight ‘at least to Mauritius’.

Mokgoro sought Jiba’s response to Hofmeyr’s submission, which said ‘a very concerning development trend that emerged under Jiba and was almost institutionalised by (former NDPP Shaun) Abrahams was to prosecute those who were seen as obstacles to corruption and the capture of the state’. According to Hofmeyr, these included former Hawks heads Anwa Dramat and Shadrack Sibiya; current Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride and Breytenbach. According to another report on The Citizen site, Jiba said: ‘The statement is very damaging because once a person says "wrongful prosecution" of someone it exposes you to a lawsuit. I don’t believe there is anything wrongful in the authorisation of the prosecution,’ she continued, referring to Booysen. ‘I had nothing to do with the decisions which were made by prosecutors to prosecute the other persons mentioned in this paragraph,’ she added. The chair then asked if it was factually correct that Booysen’s prosecution could be looked at as the prosecution of someone who is seen as an obstacle to corruption and the capture of the state. ‘I wouldn’t like to speculate really, all I can say is that on the basis of the evidence I had before me I thought it was justifiable that I must institute an authorisation,’ Jiba said. On Hofmeyr’s allegations that the charges laid against Booysen were an attempt to remove him from office and install someone more ‘pliable’, Jiba answered: ‘I had no such intentions.’

Mrwebi was faced with a tricky question during cross-examination yesterday – how, when everyone around him was saying there was a good case to prosecute Mdluli, did he decide otherwise. According to a Daily Maverick report, under questioning by evidence leader Nazreen Bawa, Mrwebi argued that although the ‘provisional charge sheet’ presented to him contained information regarding the fraud and corruption charges against Mdluli, there was no direct link to the Crime Intelligence boss – only suspicions. Bawa questioned Mrwebi about what formed the basis of his decision on the Mdluli matter, especially when lead prosecutor Chris Smith and his supervisor, Breytenbach, had said there was a prima facie case to prosecute. However, Mrwebi was of the view that ‘there was no unauthorised gratification’ of public funds by Mdluli. Instead, the allegations stacked up against Heine Barnard (Mdluli’s subordinate). The DM notes Bawa proceeded to read out facts contained in the memo sent to Mrwebi by Smith, urging him to prosecute. According to Bawa, Mrwebi was shown how Mdluli’s car was traded in for two BMWs purchased at Atlantis Ford, a supplier of service vehicles to the Crime Intelligence Unit and a R90 000 shortfall was covered by a discount meant for his unit and a loan from the supplier. Furthermore, the two cars were found in Mdluli’s house and registered to his wife. Mrwebi agreed that the vehicle traded in belonged to Mdluli, with bank records supplied showing that he had been paying for the vehicle out of his personal bank account. ‘From a provisional charge sheet this is considered unlawful gratification,’ said Bawa. Mrwebi did not agree, arguing it was not actual evidence. It was only a summary of the events and he was interested in studying the actual docket, which had not been submitted to him, said Mrwebi.