Norma Gigaba to sue Hawks as NPA drops criminal case

The National Prosecuting Authority has withdrawn a criminal case against Nomachule “Norma” Gigaba (neé Mngoma), the wife of former finance minister Malusi Gigaba.

Norma appeared in the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Friday, facing charges of crimen injuria and malicious damage to property after she was accused of damaging a Mercedes Benz G-Class belonging to her husband’s friend.

She was arrested in July 2020, at her home in Waterkloof in the east of Pretoria in front of her children. She was detained at the Brooklyn police station for one night before applying for bail.

NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said they decided to provisionally withdraw the charges of crimen injuria and malicious damage to property in recognition of the High Court judgment which ruled her arrest was unlawful and an act of abuse of power by the Hawks.

“The decision on whether or not to reinstate the matter will depend on the consideration of further representations of Ms Gigaba.”

Attorney Eric Mabuza, part of Norma’s legal team, said they were finalising the process to sue the Hawks for unlawful arrest.

“We will issue summons against the Hawks. You can imagine the trauma our client suffered from this and spending a night in jail.

“This legal debacle has been ongoing for months now and her career prospects and children have been affected.”

Norma said she was happy about the NPA’s decision and also shared that she and her husband were going through a divorce.

“It has been an emotional journey, especially for the kids because I still have to be a mother while there is court. My image was also tainted in the process.”

Norma said she had not yet received information that was retrieved from her devices when she was arrested.

“When I fought I did not stand-up for myself but for all women who have gone through this. The reason I was arrested was so he can get access to my gadgets to get information relating to state capture. He tried to break me but I am still standing.”

The decision comes as NPA has been studying for over a month, the submissions made by Norma’s legal representatives Dali Mpofu and Tembeka Gcukaitobi to drop charges against her as they believed her prosecution after an unlawful arrest would be a “fruits of a poisoned tree”.

“There is no way that the prosecution could survive the ties of abuse that was identified by high court in her arrest,” Mabuza said.

“The people that arrested her fraudulently as found by the High Court cannot be used as witnesses of this court.”

Large parts of the submissions made by Norma’s lawyers hung onto the judgement of the High Court.

The judgement by Judge Cassim Sardiwalla read: “I am satisfied that the evidence before me demonstrate that the fourth and fifth respondents (Hawks) acted with malice, in that their actions appeared to have been motivated by an abuse of power by a former minister.’’

The Hawks claimed that when they arrested Gigaba they were investigating the damage to property and crimen injuria case as it was linked to a case of conspiracy to murder against Malusi.

Sardiwalla rejected these claims and said there was no evidence linking Norma to an investigation conducted regarding a conspiracy to commit murder.

“There is no clear evidence of this in the docket and takes the matter no further. It is clear that this is a domestic dispute between two prominent members of society, however, the offences are not deserving high priority of the Hawks.

“The involvement of the Hawks itself speaks to the abuse of power by Mr Gigaba as a former minister in using the state administration for his own personal benefit with the intention to intimidate his wife in a domestic dispute,’’ he said.