A seven-member panel chaired by justice & constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi on Thursday concluded interviews for a replacement for Shamila Batohi, whose term as national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) expires at the end of January 2026.
One of the six candidates to take over as NDPP, former Investigating Directorate boss Hermione Cronje, told the panel that another candidate, former national director Menzi Simelane, is largely to blame for persistent troubles at the NPA.
Kubayi said Simelane should not have sat in on the interviews because it was irregular, while the DA has challenged his candidature and threatened to interdict the process.
Simelane faces a court application by the Johannesburg Society of Advocates (JSA), seeking his disbarment based on its panel finding eight years ago that deemed him unfit and improper to remain an advocate of the high court, mainly based on his involvement in the suspension of former NDPP advocate Vusi Pikoli in 2007. He was involved in the process during his tenure as director-general at the justice department.
The inquiry that probed Pikoli’s fitness to hold office, chaired by the late Frene Ginwala, made adverse comments about Simelane and accused him of not declaring documents in the matter. She did make recommendations against him. But Simelane says Ginwala made several errors in her report — but could not challenge the report, which the JSA finding is pinned on, because the inquiry did not make findings against him but merely comments.
“Everything that Ginwala said was not disclosed,” he maintained.
Simelane has pushed back against the JSA for taking eight years to bring the application in the high court. He said the application appeared to be a pre-emptive move to hinder him from applying for the NDPP position. “This issue has been unattended for 18 years,” he said.
He said no court found him unfit to practise, and the JSA litigation is without merit.
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