FUL together with Corruption Watch sought review of the settlement granted former National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mxolisi Nxasana. The two organisations also sought a declarator that the termination of Mr Nxasana’s appointment was unconstitutional and should be set aside; that the subsequent appointment of Mr Abrahams was invalid and was to be set aside; and that the President, owing to conflict, may not appoint, remove or suspend an NDPP but that the Deputy President is to do so.
In a hard-hitting judgement on the 8 December 2017, the North Gauteng High Court granted the relief sought by the applicants although declined to order the reinstatement of Mr Nxasana. The judgment is of critical importance to the independence of the National Prosecuting Authority clearly underlining that persons at its head must be of unimpeachable integrity and there can be no suggestion that political interference enters into their removal or appointment.
The President and the Abrahams have both launched applications for leave to appeal the judgement and the applicants are seeking confirmation of certain parts of the order before the Constitutional Court.
Click here for a media summary of the subsequent Constitutional Court judgment, hearing the parties’ leave to appeal; and confirming the High Court’s declarations of invalidity.
