By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former prosecutor Moipone Noko agreed to appear at the Nkabinde Inquiry “on behalf of [South Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions Andrew Chauke” this week after evidence leaders last week said that she had not responded to their requests for a statement.
The inquiry is investigating the fitness of Chauke to hold office.
Noko told the hearing that she had agreed with Chauke’s bid to prosecute members of the SA Police Service’s Cato Manor unit and its head, Major General Johan Booysen.
She also supported the former NPA head Shaun Abrahams’ decision to reinstate racketeering and other charges against Booysen and members of the unit. The charges were later withdrawn by Abrahams’ successor, Shamila Batohi, after Booysen was involved in numerous court battles in an attempt to prove that his prosecution was political, as he was investigating criminals close to the Zuma family.
It was Batohi, as outgoing head of the NPA, who wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa asking for an inquiry into Chauke and his role in the Cato Manor matter, as well as the failure to bring charges against former Crime Intelligence head Richard Mdluli.
Noko said that in August 2012, while advocate Nomgcobo Jiba was acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, Chauke, as South Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), had briefed her on the Cato Manor matter.
Chauke has been accused of acting outside his jurisdiction on a case in KwaZulu-Natal while being the lead prosecutor in Gauteng. Noko said she had not questioned why a DPP from another division had been appointed to lead a prosecution outside his purview.
Noko told the inquiry that the Cato Manor case involved 23 “interconnected dockets” and 28 murder charges, including against members of the Cato Manor police unit.
She said that in March 2014, she was invited to the NPA offices by its then acting head, Mxolisi Nxasana, and instructed to take over the case because it fell within her jurisdiction.
“So from now onwards, advocate Chauke must not oversee it any more, and I must take over,” she said.
She said the prosecution of Booysen and the unit was based on allegations that they acted unlawfully between 2008 and 2011.
Noko told the panel that members of the unit had “staged” shoot-outs with criminals and had “created an impression at every scene of murder that the deceased people were posing some danger towards them, and they are alleged to have planted some firearms”.
Noko was moved upwards from her position as head of the NPA’s provincial tax division to the post of acting DPP. The seasoned advocate Simphiwe Mlotshwa was sidelined to make way for Noko.
Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi representing Chauke has alleged that Booysen, together with members of the Cato Manor Police Unit, received monetary rewards from their employer for what he described as extrajudicial killings carried out under the guise of combating taxi violence in the province.
The questions over monetary rewards dominated the final day of Noko’s testimony before the inquiry.
Noko told the inquiry that rewards were paid to individuals said to have contributed to the Cato Manor Unit’s success. Among them was Booysen.
She also revealed that the operation produced no arrests as the suspects were killed.
“She said each of the above candidates plays a role in the successful apprehension of the suspect, some of the candidates played a role in the apprehension of the suspect while others assisted at the scene.”
The presiding judge Bess Nkabinde raised concerns about the handling of ballistic evidence at crime scenes linked to the Cato Manor Police Unit.
Her remarks followed Ngcukaitobi’s presentation of graphic images showing victims, who had been shot and killed.
Nkabinde questioned whether proper protocol was followed – specifically, questioning which officials should be called first to a crime scene.
Noko explained: “The police should have called the ballistic experts and also it shows how consistently what Danika said that the crime scenes will be manipulated before they could even continue. So, when the police and forensic get called the scene has already been mixed up and they will get something that is not accurate. But, if it’s the police they were the first one on the scene they shouldn’t touch anything but call the forensic experts.”
Noko instituted charges against Booysen related to the so-called Cato Manor death squad. She also withdrew charges against businessman Thoshan Panday (a business partner of Jacob Zuma’s son, Edward) and Colonel Navin Madhoe, who Booysen said attempted to bribe him with R2-million to scupper a corruption investigation.