Despite improving crime conviction rates, the work of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been dulled by a lack of convictions in state capture cases almost three years after former chief justice Raymond Zondo finalised his report.
This was the sentiment of national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi in addressing 343 new prosecutors joining the NPA on Monday.
She said strides made in crime convictions had been offset by failure to successfully prosecute major state capture cases involving politicians.
Batohi has been in the spotlight after several high-profile state capture cases have been thrown out by the courts.
This includes the case of former Eskom boss Matshela Koko in an R2.2bn corruption matter that was struck off the roll by the Middelburg specialised commercial crimes court in 2023 due to delays.
The same year, the accused in the Nulane state capture R24.9m money-laundering and corruption case were acquitted due to inadmissible evidence. The NPA is fighting for enrolment of the case.
Corruption charges against politician Zizi Kodwa and his co-accused businessman Jehan Mackay were withdrawn late last year.
Batohi assured the new prosecutors the NPA was working on changing the tide in its handling of state capture cases.
“People talk about the NPA these days and sadly they measure whether the NPA has been successful based on whether one politician is in an orange uniform for state capture,” she said.
Much work was going into this issue, Batohi said. “I feel very confident that this year there are going to be significant changes in terms of further enrolments.”
She said the NPA was working closely with its partners within and outside the government to ensure they deliver state capture prosecutions.
Court backlogs
Batohi also blamed delays in state capture cases on courts dealing with backlogs. The phenomenon is affecting most magistrate’s and high courts countrywide.
She said the NPA dealt with thousands of cases daily doing “incredibly good work prosecuting murders, rapists, sexual offenders and gender-based violence matters”.
The NPA’s 2023/24 report says that the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit obtained 333 convictions for 372 serious and complex commercial crime cases.
“This resulted in a high conviction rate of 89.5%. The National Prosecuting Services exceeded expectations in many performance areas. These include exceptional conviction rates in the high courts (91%), regional courts (81.8%) and district courts (95.1%), as well as for the prosecution of murder (80.4%), femicide (91.7%), intimate partner femicide (93.3%), complex tax matters (97%) and organised crime (93.4%),” the report reads.
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