National director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi has still got a year to go on her contract, which means at least another 365 days of spectacular inaction at the helm of SA’s inert prosecuting authority.
When she finally goes, in January 2026, it will frankly be good riddance. To mark the occasion, jubilant celebrations in the streets would be in order, not by criminals, but by law-abiding citizens fed up with seeing their country inexorably descending into all manner of lawlessness under her watch.
She has been an utter failure, totally out of her depth and as useless as the politicians who appointed her. Of all the members of the new battalion ushered in by the so-called new dawn, she has been by far the greatest disappointment.
The raison d’être of Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency, his curriculum as it were, was his promise to fight corruption, especially state capture, the legacy of Jacob Zuma, his predecessor and former boss Jacob Zuma.
That was what got him elected. And the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) under Batohi was to be the linchpin of that campaign. She came highly recommended and her appointment was met with universal approval, with the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach, a former senior NPA prosecutor, calling her “a very good administrator”.
Prior to her appointment she had spent 10 years at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. That seems to have blinded people’s perspective, elevating her to a pedestal which she probably didn’t deserve. Before that she had been a run-of-the-mill head of the NPA in KwaZulu-Natal, where her only notable achievement was to collect a speeding fine.
People are sick and tired of corruption and they want somebody to do something about it. It’s extremely frustrating for the public to see scoundrels not only literally getting away with murder, but flagrantly and shamelessly displaying their ill-gotten wealth. It is this lack of consequences that has been fanning the flames of the scourge.
There was hope when Batohi took over from the disgraced Shaun Abrahams that something would be done about corruption. Abrahams, at least it would seem, had an agenda — to serve his political masters. What is Batohi’s excuse for doing nothing?
As somebody who had worked for the organisation before, people expected that she would hit the ground running.
Enterprising work by journalists has provided ample evidence, for instance, on how Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu feasted on poor pensioners’ meagre savings. But whether out of fear, intimidation or indifference, the NPA has yet to be roused from its slumber
They were to be disappointed. When the first group of state capture accused in the R280m Estina dairy farm fraud and corruption case were finally taken to court with a great deal of fanfare, the NPA ended up with egg on its face.
All seven accused, including former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane and other Gupta associates, were released by the Free State High Court for lack of evidence. At the time, the NPA said it would have the case reinstated, but that has proved to be an empty promise. That case seems, to all intents and purposes, dead in the water.
When former Eskom head honcho Matshela Koko and 18 others were hauled before the Middelburg specialised commercial crimes court on fraud, corruption and money laundering charges in October 2022, there was some hope that at last somebody was to be held accountable for load-shedding or, at the very least, some light would be shed on why the country had to be thrown into darkness. It was another false dawn.
The case was struck off the roll a year later. At the time, the NPA said it would enrol the case again soon. Outside court, a cocky Koko dared Batohi “to come back when she is ready”. A year later, he has yet to be taken up on that challenge.
The first volume of the Zondo commission report was released in January 2022, and by June all six volumes had been handed to Ramaphosa. Thus far none of the big beasts fingered in the commission have been held to account. They’re enjoying their freedom, and their loot.
Some are even making laws in parliament; others are making decisions in the cabinet, with a gaggle of sycophants at their beck and call. Even those who’ve already been charged are quite blasé about it because they know it’s a matter of time before they’re let off scot-free, thanks to NPA incompetence.
Advocate Terry Motau’s report on the looting frenzy at VBS Mutual Bank was released in October 2018, and presented a blow-by-blow account of how poor pensioners were robbed blind in broad daylight by unscrupulous bank officials and their political buddies.
It had the culprits, and where and how the money was spent. This should have been low-hanging fruit for the NPA. All the information was at its disposal. But it took them an eternity to cobble together a case, and only two culprits are so far known to have gone to jail — and only because they either pleaded guilty or entered into a plea bargain with the state. None of the politicians involved have yet been held to account.
Enterprising work by journalists has provided ample evidence, for instance, on how Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu feasted on poor pensioners’ meagre savings. But whether out of fear, intimidation or indifference, the NPA has yet to be roused from its slumber.
Any possible action against some of these politicians has now been complicated by the fact that justice minister Thembi Simelane has been implicated in the VBS imbroglio and could be a suspect. She has thus far ignored all calls to resign. But how can she morally stay in her position with such a cloud hanging over her head? It’s untenable — almost akin to the fox guarding the henhouse.
Ramaphosa told reporters in Beijing: “As president, I do need space and time to be able to deal with this matter.” But how long is a piece of string?
The ineptitude has done nothing to enhance the NPA’s reputation. It has, instead, eroded its credibility and given ammunition to those implicated in wrongdoing to slander and undermine it to get themselves off the hook.
It has therefore done enormous damage to the fight against corruption. In a sense, Batohi has become a poster child of the abject failure to combat the scourge.She should have been fired a long time ago.
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