BL Premium reports that former prosecutions boss Nomgcobo Jiba has lost the first round of her court battle to be reinstated to her position pending the Parliamentary process that will either confirm or overturn her removal.
President Cyril Ramaphosa fired her from her position as deputy national director of public prosecutions on the recommendation of the Justice Yvonne Mokgoro inquiry into her fitness to hold office. She was fired together with special director of public prosecutions advocate Lawrence Mrwebi. The ruling means that Jiba will not receive a salary from the NPA while she fights to convince Parliament that she should be restored to her position, and also fights her dismissal by Ramaphosa in a more wide-ranging challenge to the Mokgoro inquiry itself. Jiba’s lawyers had argued that the immediate cutting of her salary and benefits after she was fired by Ramaphosa in April this year was unconstitutional and unfair. This, they said, was because she could only be removed after Parliament considered Ramaphosa’s reasons for firing her, and heard her response to them. The Cape High Court ruled on Friday that Jiba had failed to show that she has a clear case not to be removed by the president prior to the conclusion of a parliamentary process. The only way Jiba could be restored to her position, the court said, was if Parliament determined that she should be restored. Until that happened, her status was that she had been removed from her post and was therefore not entitled to any benefits.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Karyn Maughan at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
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