The Constitutional Court is on Monday expected to hand down the much-anticipated judgment on whether Shaun Abrahams’ appointment as head of the NPA was unconstitutional. 

The ruling is expected to be delivered at 10:00. 

In February, the Constitutional Court heard an application to confirm two declaratory orders of constitutional invalidity, made by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on December 8.

READ: Will Shaun Abrahams be sacked? Ramaphosa’s decision hinges on court rulings

The High Court declared former president Jacob Zuma’s conduct as unconstitutional in the termination of Mxolisi Nxasana’s appointment as the then National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP). 

The court ordered President Cyril Ramaphosa in December 2017 – while he was still deputy president – to appoint a new head of the NPA after the court declared the post vacant.

Zuma conflicted

Freedom under Law, Corruption Watch and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution had gone to court seeking an order declaring Nxasana’s 2015 removal invalid.

Judge President Dunstan Mlambo ruled that it would not be just for the former prosecutions boss to be reinstated, and that then president Jacob Zuma was conflicted in appointing a new NDPP.Nxasana accepted a golden handshake from Zuma worth R17.3m in 2015.

An inquiry into his fitness to hold office was abruptly halted before his departure.

It was revealed in June that Ramaphosa was waiting for the Constitutional Court judgment on Abrahams before making a decision.

DA MP Choloane David Matsepe had asked him in a parliamentary question “whether he intends to remove Abrahams from the position of National Director [of Public Prosecutions] (NDPP)”, and “if not, why not?”

He also asked whether he had found that the NPA was capable of executing its mandate under Abrahams’ incumbent leadership.

On this, Ramaphosa said the effectiveness of law enforcement institutions depended to a great extent on capable and credible management.

“As we committed to do in the State of the Nation Address, we are working to ensure that the entire leadership of the National Prosecuting Authority is strengthened.”

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