Shamila Batohi is starting to understand the brief.
The head of our National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) realises that South Africans are impatient for accountability.
More than three years of testimony at the Zondo Commission laid bare the incredible extent of state capture. But the question remains: When are people going to go to jail?
So Batohi made a splash on Tuesday about how the NPA has collaborated with the commission and the work done so far by its own super sleuthing department, the Investigating Directorate (ID).
The ID has managed to “enrol” 20 cases – they’ve got those onto the court roll and obtained a date for a hearing. This is a big deal. Getting a case ready to be heard by a judge takes a fair amount of work, and the state prosecutors must be confident of the evidence they’re presenting. The 20 cases involve 65 accused people.
Nine additional corruption matters are being prioritised for enrolment within the next six months.
The ID was gazetted by Ramaphosa in 2019, and the NPA is now calling for it to be made a permanent structure.
Batohi made the announcement while appearing before her organisation’s relevant oversight committee in parliament. She also assured the country that the ID was back on track after the surprise departure of its former head Hermione Cronje last year.
This isn’t the first time the NPA has made a big announcement. In February, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said the NPA was looking into 37 cases linked to State Capture, and that 14 had been enrolled in court. It’s not clear if these are included in the latest announcement.
Nonetheless, the prosecutions are an important step. We told you when we launched in 2019 that successfully prosecuting crooks – a precursor to putting them in jail – is difficult, and we should give the NPA some time, hollowed out as they were after the Zuma years.
But like the rest of the country, our patience wore thin. Civil society group, Open Secrets, has previously lambasted the NPA for delays and failing to deal with dodgy remnants of state capture in its own ranks. 😳
The NPA and its ID may have big plans but the real question is if they can get the money and capacity to go after the 1200 people and organisations implicated in Zondo’s reports. On Tuesday Batohi also asked for an additional R1.7bn. Experts have agreed this amount is necessary for both the organisation and SA to rebuild. Without it, fewer crooks will go to jail. It’s one of the best uses of our public money we can think of, so we say give it to the NPA, and let’s get more cases enrolled.
Tshego is a writer and law student from Pretoria. A keen follower of social media trends, his interests include high fantasy media, politics, science, talk radio, reading and listening to music.
He is also probably one of the only people left who still play Pokemon Go.
