Advocates Joel Cesar, Nomapa Mvandaba and Nickie Turner have been appointed as deputy directors of public prosecutions (DDPPs) for the Bhisho, Makhanda and Mthatha local divisions respectively.

This was announced on Friday by Eastern Cape director of public prosecutions Barry Madolo.

Madolo said filling the DDPP posts is one of the priorities he has identified as crucial in ensuring the division operates optimally.

The new appointees will augment a team of 13 DDPPs in the province.

Cesar has been the acting head of the Bhisho office for a year.

He holds B Juris and LLB degrees and was part of the NPA flagship aspirant prosecutor programme in 2002 before being promoted to regional court prosecutor. He was admitted as an advocate of the high court the following year.

The National Prosecuting Authority said Cesar was appointed as a junior state advocate in 2007 and worked his way up to become senior public prosecutor and later senior state advocate.

He had a brief stint on the bench as a magistrate in Benoni, Gauteng, in 2015 before rejoining the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit in 2020.

Mvandaba holds an LLB degree from the former University of Port Elizabeth, now Nelson Mandela University.

The NPA said after graduating in 2001, she became an aspirant prosecutor in Mthatha in 2003, before being appointed as a district prosecutor in Ntabankulu. She was promoted to junior state advocate in 2006 and senior state advocate, attached to the Organised Crime Unit, five years later.

Turner is a seasoned prosecutor, with 30 years' experience. She holds an LLB degree from Rhodes University and Diploma in Constitutional Litigation from Unisa.

Turner was admitted as an advocate of the high court in 1991 and commenced work in the same year as a prosecutor and a regional court prosecutor.

In 1992, she was promoted to the position of state advocate in the then office of the attorney-general in Makhanda.

She has been a senior state advocate for 23 years, during which she specialised in cases involving serial offenders and gender-based violence.

“It is fitting that we have filled the second most senior positions in the division, with two women during ‘women’s month’ and that reaffirms our commitment to transform the organisation to meet the 21st-century challenges,” Madolo said.

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