AfriForum lays criminal charges against Abrahams

Former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Johan Booysen and lobby group AfriForum this morning lay criminal charges of perjury and defeating the ends of justice against National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Advocate Shaun Abrahams.

The criminal complaints, which were also laid against Abrahams’ subordinate Advocate Marshal Mokgatlhe, were opened at Silverton Police Station in Pretoria.

The complaints relate to Abrahams’ decision to withdraw charges of fraud and perjury against his deputy, Nomgcobo Jiba, in August 2015. In December last year, a full bench of the Pretoria High Court subsequently set aside his decision to withdraw the charges.

The same court also ruled that former president Jacob Zuma’s decision to appoint Abrahams as the national director of public prosecutions had to be set aside following a court application brought by Corruption Watch, Freedom Under Law and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution.

Jiba had charged Booysen and 27 members of the Cato Manor organised crime unit on racketeering charges on February 13, in 2016. All the charges against Booysen, who got suspended after he was indicted, were withdrawn in March 2014 by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court.

Judge Trevor Gorven condemned the decision by Jiba to prosecute Booysen, stating that the charges did not meet even the barest of minimum requirements.

Jiba and her colleague Lawrence Mrwebi have been struck off the roll of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa. They are both currently on special leave.

Meanwhile, Abrahams is due to receive recommendations today from an NPA prosecuting team on whether Zuma should be prosecuted for charges of fraud, racketeering, money laundering and corruption related to the spy tapes saga following Zuma being implicated in the arms deal scandal in 2005.

In September last year, Zuma’s legal team and the NPA conceded before the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein that the decision to drop the charges in 2009 was irrational. Zuma subsequently made fresh representations to the NPA on why he should not be indicted on criminal charges.

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