National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shamila Batohi said impunity was no longer a given as she promised major prosecutions within the next six months to restore the rule of law, which she said was on life support.
Into her fourth year without a successful high-profile corruption or state capture-linked prosecution, Batohi, whose appointment by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 was seen as a major step in his efforts to reform the state and rebuild institutions, acknowledged that a lack of progress had led to public frustration.
The national director of public prosecutions was speaking at the annual Frederik van Zyl Slabbert memorial lecture at Stellenbosch University, on the same day that former president Jacob Zuma managed to secure another delay of his corruption trial linked to a government arms deal dating back to the 1990s.
It came nine months after SA was gripped by looting and riots, which left over 300 people dead and for which not a single plotter has been arrested and charged. On the same day, convicted criminal turned politician Gayton McKenzie, who served time in jail for bank robbery, was elected a mayor in the Northern Cape. On Sunday, corruption accused Zandile Gumede was elected to lead the ANC in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal.
“The rule of law is on life support. We need to fight for its survival in this country,” Batohi said, though she added that the NPA, which has struggled with lack of resources and personnel after being deliberately weakened during the state capture era, was turning the corner with key cases in the pipeline.
“We certainly won’t finish all the cases, but we are focusing on cases in the Zondo commission and other cases relating to grand corruption. There’s been a lot that’s been done in the NPA to deal with this,” Batohi said. “We know we need to do a lot more and we need to do better in order to really deliver.”
More recently, the NPA has had some success, securing preservation orders against the Optimum coal mine, assets once considered the jewel in the crown of the Gupta family’s business empire, and preventing its sale to a known associate.
Also last month, global policing body Interpol issued red notices for two Gupta brothers, Rajesh “Tony” Gupta and Atul Gupta, meaning they are on a global “wanted” list.
Batohi said that the renewal of the NPA was “like building a house” one brick at a time.
“We are acutely aware of what successful investigations and prosecutions, particularly with regard to corruption, will do for this country.”
In perhaps an oblique defence of her own work, Batohi said impunity was no longer a given and cases that would not have seen the light of day previously are now before the courts.
“The ubiquitous taps of corruption and rent-seeking are being closed,” Batohi said. “Seeing those implicated being held accountable and facing consequences is extremely important in this country. But that is not the only measure of success.”
Batohi said the NPA lost its way in failing to account for its actions and wasting resources, and it was now in the process of establishing an ethics and accountability office. “The people should trust in the NPA as a credible institution,” she said.
Speaking about the R1.5-trillion estimated cost of state capture, close to the government’s total annual expenditure, she said it was “an insane amount of money and the impact of this on service delivery, which disproportionately affects the poor and the vulnerable, is devastating”.
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