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Jiba, Mrwebi to know their fate on Thursday

Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi
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Axed top prosecutor Nomgcobo Jiba and her colleague, Lawrence Mrwebi will find out if the Constitutional Court supports the move to have them both struck off the roll of advocates.

The General Council of the Bar of South Africa succeeded in removing the pair from the roll in High Court victory. But victory was short-lived when the two successfully appealed the decision.

Now it’s up to the Constitutional Court to determine the final round of a fight for the careers of two disgraced prosecutors.

Jiba fell from grace after she was at the helm of the Prosecuting Authority between 28 December 2011 and 30 August 2013.

She wasn’t alone in her fall from grace. Both she and Mrwebi, who was Special Director of Public Prosecution, were struck from the advocates roll in September 2015.

This after the High Court in Pretoria agreed with Council of the Bar that they were not fit and proper to be advocates.

The axed advocates then took the matter to the Supreme Court of appeal where that ruling was overturned.

Mokgoro Commission

The bid to get them struck off the roll came after the Mokgoro Commission found that they were not fit to hold office at the National Prosecuting Authority.

But they were already suspended in October 2018 before President Cyril Ramaphosa instituted the inquiry into their fitness to hold office.

In February 2019, the Inquiry found that during her capacity as acting head of the NDPP, Jiba compromised her integrity and failed to comply with court processes.

Her prosecutorial overreach in instituting racketeering charges against former KZN Hawks boss, Johan Booysen, took centre stage in the Commission.

The Mokgoro panel also found that Jiba was not frank under oath. They also found Mrwebi, in his capacity as Special Director, acted without integrity in dropping the charges against former Crime Intelligence boss, Richard Mdluli.

Regarding Mrwebi, the Mokgoro Enquiry found that in his capacity as Special Director of Public Prosecutions (SDPP), his “conduct was openly at variance” with what is expected of a person in his position.

Following the Commission’s report, Ramaphosa fired both Jiba and Mrwebi, saying the pair lied to him.

On Thursday, the highest court in the land will declare if it supports the move to end their careers as advocates of the court.

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