Glynnis Breytenbach (born 9 August 1960, ) is a former prosecutor for the

National Prosecuting Authority The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) is the agency of the South African government responsible for state prosecutions. Under Section 179 of the Constitution and the National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998, which established the NPA in 199 ...

(NPA) of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and a Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for the Democratic Alliance (DA). She is South Africa's Shadow Minister of

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

. In this capacity, she has called for an end to ongoing political interference that has compromised the integrity of the NPA. Her protracted dispute with the NPA over her suspension in 2012 from its Specialised Commercial Crime Unit was covered extensively in the media. In 2017, she published a memoir, ''Rule of Law'', and in 2018 was shortlisted for the National Director of Public Prosecutions post at the NPA, but later withdrew her candidacy.

Departure from the NPA

In April 2012, acting National Director of Public Prosecutions

Nomgcobo Jiba Nomgcobo Jiba''wasthe Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions in South Africa. Early life and education Nomgcobo Jiba obtained her LLB from Walter Sisulu University in 1989 and went on to obtain her master's degree in Commercial Law in ...

suspended Breytenbach from her position as a regional head at the NPA's Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU), on the basis of a complaint laid by a company called Imperial Crown Trading. Breytenbach has claimed that she was suspended because she had pursued the prosecution of

Richard Mdluli Lieutenant General Richard Naggie Mdluli (born May 1958) was the head of Police Crime Intelligence in South Africa from 2009 to 2012. He was replaced by Chris Ngcobo. He was dismissed from the South African Police Service on 17 January 2018. On ...

, former head of the police's

Crime Intelligence Division The Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Police Service is an intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement ...

, on fraud and corruption charges. The charges against Mdluli were dropped by Lawrence Mrwebi, the head of the SCCU, a decision which was later found to have been unlawful. Disciplinary proceedings, which at Breytenbach's request were open to the media, cleared Breytenbach of any wrongdoing in May 2013, a year after she was suspended. In the interim, she had unsuccessfully challenged the suspension at the Public Service Bargaining Council and in court. She was also acquitted of multiple criminal charges relating to documents which she had accidentally deleted from her work computer. However, after unsuccessfully challenging her subsequent transfer out of the SCCU, she resigned from the NPA in January 2014, joined the DA shortly afterwards, and was sworn in as a Member of Parliament that May. In February 2014, she reached a settlement with the NPA on all outstanding labour disputes.

References

Offices held

Living people Prosecutors Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Place of birth missing (living people) South African women lawyers 21st-century South African women politicians 21st-century South African politicians 21st-century South African lawyers Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa 21st-century women lawyers 1960 births {{Gauteng-politician-stub