Former senior prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach remembers it like it was yesterday. 

“Lawrence Mrwebi [former Special Director of Public Prosecutions] sat at his desk and stretched out his little, skinny arms and folded them behind his head and said to us: ‘Colleagues, I presume you are here to test my powers’,” Breytenbach recalls.

The meeting concerned Mrwebi’s decision to withdraw the charges against former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli. Breytenbach at the time was part of the prosecuting team who thought Mrwebi was making a mistake. The fightback would nearly cost Breytenbach her job.

It was a critical moment in the battle for control of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) which is also detailed in the Mokgoro Enquiry report, released this week. The Mokgoro report backs up Breytenbach’s version of events, with the exception of the reference to Mrwebi’s “little, skinny arms”. 

In the report, retired justice Yvonne Mokgoro declared that deputy prosecutions head Nomgcobo Jiba, and head of specialised commercial crimes unit (SCCU) Mrwebi were unfit to hold their respective offices.

Both have now been dismissed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Looking back at her time at the NPA, Breytenbach says she found herself in the thick of a triple threat attack on the NPA by Menzi Simelane, Jiba and Mrwebi.

Reflecting on the toxic environment described so well in the Mokgoro report, Breytenbach still manages a hearty laugh. “The leadership ability of Jiba and Mrwebi put together couldn’t fill the bottom of thimble,” she tells News24.

Back to the beginning

While Jiba and Mrwebi were the focus of the Mokgoro report, Breytenbach says she should have walked out as soon as Simelane was appointed national director of public prosecutions in 2009.

“When Simelane came to the NPA, in one of the first speeches he made, he said he was there to implement the policies of the ruling party… on that day I should have resigned,” says Breytenbach.

“It went downhill from there, he interfered in prosecution authority, he interfered in existing pockets of excellence, [and] he initiated the dismantling of the specialised commercial crimes unit.”

Simelane was adamant on restructuring the NPA, including initiating processes to dismantle the SCCU.

“We fought very hard against it, but the national director has a lot of power with regards to the setup of the NPA, and rightly so,” says Breytenbach.

When his appointment was later declared invalid by the constitutional court two years later, Jiba was appointed acting head of the NPA. However, nothing changed.

“Between [Simelane] and Nomgcobo Jiba, they should really pat themselves on the back,” says Breytenbach. “They set out to decimate the capacity of the NPA and they did a damn good job.”

The ‘conniving’ two

With the sharp tongue Breytenbach is so famous for, she explains the tyranny of Jiba and Mrwebi: “They were dictatorial, they were underhand, they were less than honest, they connived, and they interfered on every level with the prosecutorial independence that is guaranteed in the Constitution”.

In November 2011, Breytenbach was told in a meeting that there was a complaint against her regarding a case she was working on. She would only later find out that the complaint was made by Ronald Mendelow on behalf of Imperial Crown Trading (ICT) in a mining rights case against Kumba Iron Ore.

The NPA did not take this complaint further until she got involved in the case of former Crime Intelligence boss, Richard Mdluli.

Not long after Mrwebi’s appointment as Special Director of Public Prosecutions, he started pushing Breytenbach to drop the criminal charges against Mdluli.  Breytenbach refused.

Mdluli faced charges of fraud, theft and corruption for unlawfully using the Secret Service Account for his and his wife’s personal benefit.

As a result, Breytenbach and the North Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Sibongile Mzinyathi approached Mrwebi to express their disagreement with dropping the charges against Mdluli.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” she adds, “because he did not have the power to withdraw the matter, he had to have consensus with Sibongile before he could withdraw it and he hadn’t even discussed it with Sibongile.”

At the meeting, Mrwebi told the two that he had already sent a letter to the lawyers telling them the matter had been withdrawn. This, Breytenbach says, tied their hands and they agreed to provisionally withdraw the charges and push back at a later stage.

This retaliation never happened, however, as Breytenbach was suspended shortly thereafter.

“When I came back they didn’t send me back to my office, they said there were a lot of other complaints they wanted to investigate now.

“So they sent me to the DPP’s office where I did no work for a year. The idea was that I would spend the next ten years sitting there, earning a fat salary doing nothing because then I couldn’t harm them,” says Breytenbach. As a result, she left the NPA for Parliament.

With the release of Mokgoro report, Breytenbach says she feels vindicated. “Jiba and Mrwebi destroyed the NPA and I could have walked away.

“The reason I fought the disciplinary was to show other people in the NPA that you can take them on and win, they don’t have the power to destroy you. If you’re right, you’re f*cking right.”

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A new data tool is expected to collate more accurate data relating to human trafficking, which will help in the fight against the scourge, Deputy Minister of the Justice and Constitutional Development John Jeffery announced on Thursday.

During the launch of the new Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons National Policy Framework (NPF) in Pretoria, Jeffery said the need for reliable data has often been raised, and the new data tool is the answer.

The data tool, developed by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Department of Justice aims to collect data and focuses on important questions relating to human trafficking.

“For example, the total number of trafficking victims (suspected and/or confirmed) identified by government during a specific reporting period, as well as an indication of the form of trafficking and the details – sex, age, nationality – of the victims and the perpetrators,” Jeffery said.

READ: More than a decade behind bars for human trafficking brothers

Other questions the data tool asks include:

– How many victims were identified during the reporting period by NGOs or other non-governmental entities?

– Of these, how many victims did the government refer to care facilities for assistance? How many victims were assisted during the reporting period?”

The deputy minister said these are just some of the details that need to be known in order to adequately combat trafficking in persons (TIP).

“The data tool tells us about the methods of trafficking, in that the majority of victims detected were in smuggling cases from countries of origin which turned into trafficking during the journey to South Africa or at destination.”

READ MORE: Pretoria cops nabbed for human trafficking, kidnapping and extortion

Although data on all forms of trafficking in South Africa is scarce, Jeffery did say that in 2018, there were eight cases with successful convictions of perpetrators for trafficking in persons-related offences.

“These cases involved 14 accused persons and the sentences included, among others, eight life sentences and a sentence of 18 years imprisonment.”

Quoting an international statistic, Jeffery said in respect of sex trafficking alone, the International Labour Organisation estimates that there are 4.8 million people trapped in forced sexual exploitation globally.

Forms of trafficking

Jeffery also spoke about the types of human trafficking, saying that the new NPF will help direct South Africa’s efforts at all forms of trafficking.

“In other words, not only sex trafficking, but all forms of trafficking in persons, thereby creating a comprehensive legal tool to combat trafficking in persons in all its forms.

“Sex trafficking is but one form of human trafficking – there are many other forms, such as debt bondage, labour trafficking, organ smuggling, domestic servitude, forced marriage and forced criminality.”

He clarified that trafficking does not always mean people are brought or taken out of a country. There are instances of internal trafficking as well.

Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act

The NPF will make the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act work better, according to Jeffery. 

“The NPF intends to support the implementation of the Act to ensure that the criminal justice system is effective in prosecuting criminals, protecting the victims of trafficking and promoting a cooperative and aligned response among all government departments, as well as with civil society organisations engaged in assisting and supporting trafficked persons,” said Jeffery.

“We passed the legislation because we were concerned by the increase of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and the role played by organised criminal networks in the trafficking of persons globally.”

Jeffery said that while the legislation came into operation in 2015, the Act along with the NFP will bring South Africa a step closer to a much needed systemic response to the plight of trafficking in the country.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has undertaken to go to communities in flood-stricken KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and the Eastern Cape when he returns form his work visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt.

At least 32 people have been confirmed dead on Tuesday in KZN, with homes swallowed by raging floods, while scores of others have been misplaced in Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape, forcing them to take refuge in community halls and churches.

Ramaphosa has expressed his personal sadness at the loss of life and damage to property experienced.

“As South Africans, the entire nation’s thoughts and prayers are with the people of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape who have been affected by the forces of nature against which they had little defence,” said the president.

READ: UPDATE: At least 32 dead after storm batters KZN

Ramaphosa was attending an emergency African Union (AU) Troika Summit convened in Egypt to discuss the political and security situations in the Republic of Sudan and Libya. He travelled back to South Africa on Tuesday night.

“Our hearts go out particularly to families and communities who have been directly affected by death, injury and the loss of property. This situation calls on all of us to pull together as a country to reach out to affected communities and to help alleviate their hardship,” said Ramaphosa.

The president has welcomed the response of provincial authorities and national agencies in response to the calamity, as well as the support and goodwill – material and otherwise – provided by various sectors of civil society.

His spokesperson Khusela Diko said that Ramaphosa “has reiterated the call made by government for community members to avoid crossing low-lying bridges, streams and rivers; and for motorists to exercise caution and avoid driving in flooded areas”.

The SA Weather Service has urged the public to regularly follow weather forecasts on television and radio.