Advocate Nomgcobo Jiba has issued a fiery statement in response to former President Thabo Mbeki, saying he parrots the narratives paddled in the white-controlled media.
The ex-president, in a Freedom Day speech that raised eyebrows and the spectre of past controversies, implicated Jiba in what he referred to as the “counter-revolution” to cripple the state and its organs.
And Jiba is unimpressed: “I issue this statement to register my utter disappointment at his election to add to the false narratives that I have endured for some years now. [These] have been propagated by the white Oligarchies and the media whom he seems to want to impress at my expense.”
Deeply disappointed being labelled “Organised Counter-Revolution”
Jiba said she was deeply disappointed and hurt that, in this celebration of Freedom Day, Mbeki decided to count her name as part of what he calls “The Organised Counter-Revolution”.
“I went through hell; my family went through hell in the midst of the persecution. My parents died deeply hurt by the false narratives that he now resuscitates. Just like many people who faced persistent persecution, I find it unnecessary and deeply reckless. [I also find it] hurtful that President Mbeki, who should know better, elects to tarnish my name in this prejudicial manner.”
Jiba said Mbeki’s comments seemed to suggest that he had no clue about the functioning of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Either that or he was deliberately mischievous, if not malicious.
“I do not know the NPA to be an institution that is driven by revolutionary or counter-revolutionary ideals. The primary function of the NPA is to conduct prosecutions and any functions incidental thereto,” she said.
“For the better part of my professional life, I had been a career prosecutor. I have never been fazed by the noisemakers concerning the prosecutorial decisions that I made. Nor do I expect any prosecutor to be.”
Manifestly mischievous and false
She condemned Mbeki’s suggestion that when she discharged her duties she was driven by or served a counter-revolutionary agenda. It was manifestly mischievous and false for him to say that, Jiba said.
“I have never said anything about President Mbeki and have no intention of doing so now. I only want to express my disappointment, not my surprise. [I’m disappointed] that he seeks to parrot the narratives paddled in the white-controlled media about some of us.
“He provides no evidence that I, as an individual, was part of any counter-revolutionary agenda. I call on him respectfully to do so. Failing which, history will regard his “observations as ramblings of a bitter former head of state seeking to rebrand himself at the expense of others.”
Rejects the claims with contempt
Jiba said she rejected with contempt Mbeki’s “falsehoods about me having been part of any counter-revolutionary agenda”.
“…It is utterly unjust to describe me as having been part of any attempts to undermine freedom. For the record, I was never part of any counter-revolution. It is an area I leave to experts like him,” she said.
However, she said Mbeki’s statement was revealing.
“It is public knowledge that he meddled in the prosecutorial decisions of the NPA. And that led to the removal of an NDPP (national director of public prosecutions), which the courts reversed.
“He must have thought the NDPP was “counter-revolutionary” in the exercise of his prosecutorial discretion,” said Jiba.
