Suspensions plague NPA top brass

NPA boss Shaun Abrahams will be the third top ranking official in the NPA to face suspension, after Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi were suspended last month.

National Prosecuting Authority head Shaun Abrahams is in trouble after President Jacob Zuma warned him of a possible suspension pending an inquiry into his fitness to hold office.

On Tuesday Zuma asked Abrahams to give him reasons why he should not be suspended pending an inquiry.

Abrahams will be the third top ranking official in the NPA to face suspension and an inquiry after the president suspended Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi last month.

Both Jiba and Mrwebi are Abrahams’s deputies in the NPA.

Zuma faced strong calls from opposition parties and civil society to suspend Abrahams after he dropped charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan two weeks ago.

The backlash against Abrahams came after he was warned not to charge Gordhan.

Gordhan had himself maintained the charges were spurious and ANC veterans said they were baseless.

Zuma’s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga said the notice of suspension came after Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation asked the president to suspend Abrahams and two senior prosecutors pending an inquiry into their fitness to hold office.

Abrahams had denied the charges against Gordhan were politically motivated.

Political Bureau