D-Day for
Abrahams and colleagues
28
November 2016, 10:36am
Getrude
Makhafola
National Prosecuting Authority head Shaun
Abrahams Picture: Nic Bothma/EPA
Johannesburg - Monday is the deadline for National
Prosecutions Authority head Shaun Abrahams to make submissions to President
Jacob Zuma and provide reasons why he should not be suspended following
criticism over his handling of fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin
Gordhan.
Zuma wrote to Abrahams and the other NPA directors, head of the
prosecuting authority’s priority crimes litigation unit Torie Pretorius and
North Gauteng director of public prosecutions Sibongile Mzinyathi, two weeks
ago asking them why they should not be suspended.
This was after a request by civil rights organisations Helen
Suzman Foundation (HSF) and Freedom Under Law (FUL) asking Zuma to suspend the
top officials following Abrahams' U-turn on the criminal charges against Gordhan.
In the letter, Zuma said the HSF and FUL raised concerns with
the manner in which the three advocates conducted the prosecution of Gordhan
and former SA Revenue Services (SARS) bosses Visvanathan Pillay and Oupa
Magashula. The prosecutions trio were given until November 28 to reply.
Last week, the North Gauteng High Court struck off the roll an
urgent court application to compel Zuma to suspend Abrahams, Mzinyathi and
Pretorius.
The application was brought by FUL and HSF and heard by a full
bench of judges.
In the ruling, Judge President Dunstan Mlambo said there was
nothing to suggest that Zuma was not considering the two organisation's request
to provisionally suspend Abrahams and his two colleagues pending an inquiry
into their fitness to hold office.
Following a letter to Zuma by the applicants in November 7, in
which they asked him to act against the three officials, the president
responded that he needed more time.
Within two days of receiving his answer, the applicants rushed
to court, Mlambo said.
African News Agency
