“Drastic steps” are required to prevent further resignations at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), where staff are unhappy about a lack of promotion prospects, poor management and budget constraints.
These are among the findings in research conducted by Prof Lukas Muntingh at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), who co-ordinates the Africa Criminal Justice Reform (ACJR) project of the Dullah Omar Institute.
In the six years to 2020, the number of prosecutors employed by the NPA declined by more than a fifth, according to the body’s annual reports.
“All efforts must be made to address the high vacancy rate in prosecutor positions,” the ACJR said in a paper.
Muntingh raised two internal surveys about work satisfaction that the NPA conducted in 2019 and 2020. It’s not clear how many staff responded, but the most cited complaints were the lack of growth prospects, weak HR including excess vacancies, poor management, and budget constraints. “It's something that prosecutors feel on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
Muntingh, who discussed his research on the NPA during a webinar on Wednesday, said vacancies, including those in the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) were a major concern. “The vacancy situation does not look good,” he said.
The ACJR paper adds “Given the demand for criminal prosecutions and related services, the overall high vacancy rate needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
Citing figures from the NPA’s 2020/2021 annual report, Muntingh noted an overall vacancy rate of more than 26% or just over a quarter of the posts in the NPA nationally. The headcount has been trending lower for the better part of the last decade, which Muntingh says is due to “the stranglehold” of departmental financial control.
In the 2020/21 financial year, NPA divisions with the lowest rates of filled posts included the AFU with just 114 of 210 positions occupied. There were 198 vacancies out of 283 jobs in head office and administrative support. The Sexual offences and Community Affairs unit had a vacancy rate of about 38% even as SA has alarmingly high rates of rape and gender-based violence.
An ACJR graph indicates that the number of unfilled positions at the NPA is persisting even though the total number of jobs available has declined from 2014/2015 to 2019/2020.
In terms of prosecutor positions, there were almost 3,500 established positions in the 2014/15 financial year compared with about 2,500 in 2019/20. Of the established posts, less than 3,000 were filled in 2014/15 compared with about 2,400 in 2019/20.
The declines “must be seen as a function of that lack of independence” as the NPA is funded through the justice and correctional services department, Muntingh said. “There are real concerns about what we expect from the NPA, but also what we invest in the NPA,” he added.
Muntingh also raised concern about the lack of oversight of prosecutors or recourse for public complaints. The NPA doesn’t have the equivalent of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Ito investigate complaints against the SA Police Service.
While the public can report suspected offences by prosecutors to the police, “that is definitely not an ideal situation, especially when it involves complex or sensitive matters”, he said.
Muntingh added that politically sensitive cases often dominated public debate about the NPA to the detriment of the lion's share of its work. “Look at what is happening at the district and regional court levels with those crimes that have a real impact on the social fabric [...] I don't think there's a shortage of such suspects and crimes, but there needs to be greater output in terms of prosecutions,” he said.
The ACJR will host further webinars about the NPA on Thursday.
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