Gerrie Nel's history with Jiba not an issue - AfriForum

Kriel announced that AfriForum, under the stewardship of Nel, would be going after Jiba for fraud, perjury and defeating the ends of justice on behalf of former KwaZulu-Natal hawks boss General Johan Booysen.

AfriForum argues that Jiba committed fraud and perjury in charging Booysen with racketeering.

Kriel told journalists that AfriForum believes Booysen was targeted unlawfully for his investigation into a close associate of President Jacob Zuma, businessman Thoshan Panday.

Known as the bulldog prosecutor, Nel's relationship with Jiba reportedly deteriorated when she was at the forefront of Nel's controversial arrest in 2008.

Jiba reportedly blamed Nel for the prosecution and the conviction of her husband, former lawyer and Scorpions member Booker Nhantsi.

Nhantsi's criminal record was expunged by Zuma, while Jiba later received suspension letters for her role in prosecuting Nel.

Kriel denied that Nel had a personal motive and said that, because it was a high-profile case, AfriForum did not want to give Jiba any rope which she could use to hang them.

"There will be no hesitance from Nel to state our case clearly in court. If you have people with integrity fighting injustice without fear, favour [or] prejudice, you are bound to find some friction with people that have motives that aren’t aligned with doing your job."

Kriel punted that it was not Nel's decision to go after Jiba, but that it was rather a decision that AfriForum had made in 2015, prior to its relationship with him.

"All we want is for the court to look at the facts in this matter and make a decision on what is right and what is not right," he said. DM