Pretoria - General Johan Booysen, former Head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal, and civil rights organisation AfriForum filed criminal charges of perjury and defeating the ends of justice against National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams, on Friday.
The charges were files at the Silverton Police Station in Pretoria.
This is after the North Gauteng High Court found that – in the case regarding Abrahams’s withdrawal of the charges against his deputy, Nomgcobo Jiba – that the versions of Abrahams and Marshall Mokgathle (Regional Head of the Specialised Commercial Crimes unit) in their respective affidavits had lacked integrity.
The Court also found that it had been Abrahams who had withdrawn the charges against Jiba on the recommendation of Mokgathle. It was also the court’s view that Abrahams and Mokgathle’s versions had raised serious questions of credibility, and also that the explanation for the withdrawal was “bizarre in the extreme.”
Monique Taute, head of AfriForum’s Anti-Corruption Unit, said: “Both Abrahams and Mokgathle therefore committed an offence in terms of section 9 of the Justices of the Peace and the Commissioner of Oaths Act (Act No. 16 of 1936), which states that: ‘Any person who in an affidavit, made before a person competent to administer an oath or affirmation, has made a false statement knowing it to be false, shall be guilty of an offense and liable upon conviction to the penalties by law for the offence of perjury."
Booysen, who was suspended by Jiba, said: “The illegal or irrational withdrawal of charges may, with further investigation, lead to a conviction of defeating the ends of justice.”
Taute said it is clear that Abrahams was not a fit and proper person to hold office. “AfriForum therefor appeals to President Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Abrahams with immediate effect and to appoint a new NDPP who will act without fear, favour or prejudice.”