Ruling 'clouded' by Mdluli perception – Jiba advocate

The High Court ruling to strike deputy prosecutions head Nomgcobo Jiba from the roll of advocates was ‘clouded’ by a perception that former Police Intelligence head Richard Mdluli was a ‘bad guy’, said Jiba’s counsel in court yesterday, according to a Business Day report. It notes Jiba, deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions, and Lawrence Mrwebi, head of the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit, are asking the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) for leave to appeal against its judgment, striking the two off the roll as not fit and proper to be advocates. Judges Francis Legodi and Wendy Hughes found the conduct of the two unworthy of the advocates’ profession on a number of grounds. The most damming of these was that, when they dropped charges against Mdluli, they had been determined to let him off the hook, despite a prima facie case and in the face of contrary legal advice. But Jiba’s counsel, Norman Arendse SC, said that, while there was a public perception that Mdluli was a ‘bad guy’ and there were indeed ‘very serious’ allegations against him, these were untested allegations. Nor was there ‘one iota of evidence’ of a connection between Jiba and Mdluli, or even that she knew Mdluli, he said. But counsel for the GCB, Schalk Burger SC, said even if the link between Jiba and Mdluli were only a matter of public perception, when it came to NPA leaders, public perception ‘put an enormous responsibility on the holders of these offices’ to act with integrity and honesty. Burger said Jiba’s conduct in the Freedom Under Law litigation had been dishonest and that she lied often. ‘If you want to withdraw a charge against a senior policeman linked to the President and you lie about it, it is strikeable,’ he said. Judgment was reserved.