Batohi exits NPA on a sour note

Outgoing national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi’s testimony 

at the Nkabinde inquiry has cast a shadow over her seven-year tenure and suggests she was too quick to delegate to her subordinates during her leadership of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The NPA head stunned many people when she walked out of the inquiry investigating the fitness of South Gauteng director of public prosecutions Andrew Chauke to hold office. 

Batohi, who asked for the process herself, has alleged that Chauke mishandled the case and went after former KwaZulu-Natal head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) Johan Booysen and the Cato Manor specialised police unit despite there being no evidence of racketeering and acted outside his jurisdiction. 

Chauke’s counsel, advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued that Batohi never read the case dockets which informed the charges nor reviewed the evidence brought to her attention by a police inspector. 

Batohi’s testimony highlighted how one of her central challenges during her term was her reliance on subordinates to manage prosecutorial cases, said Jean Redpath, a senior researcher at the University of the Western Cape.

Batohi testified at the inquiry that she had set up a panel to investigate the allegations against Booysen and expected her deputy to review video evidence sent to her since he was copied in the emails. 

“One of the key problems for her is that she delegated much of the work to [then deputy NDPP Rodney] De Kock and he has since died,” Redpath said.

She said the NPA should also have anticipated the tough line of questioning pursued by Ngcukaitobi at the inquiry and that the terms of reference regarding fitness to hold office opened the door to broader questions about capacity and leadership within the authority.

Redpath said she was dismayed by what she described as the NPA’s “pedestrian approach” at the start of the inquiry, arguing that the institution had failed to prove its case against Chauke.

“They should have done a thorough review of the South Gauteng prosecuting office. The record is worse at the commercial crimes court,” she said.

Ngcukaitobi argued that Batohi had forfeited her right to testify by walking out of this week’s proceedings and his team would make an application for her testimony to be struck off.

Redpath said Batohi still had an opportunity to mitigate the damage to her reputation if she returned to the enquiry.

“I think there’s still a chance to redeem herself when she comes back to the inquiry. It does reflect negatively on her record. She trusted her staff and then ran with things,” she said, adding that Batohi’s overall impact on the NPA was difficult to assess due to the lag in results in court cases.

“But the data to date is not encouraging, although she was able to shift out corrupt individuals, introduce the aspirant prosecutor programme and bring in some calm and stability,” Redpath said.

Batohi’s performance at the Nkabinde hearing offered the public a rare, unflattering insight into how she ran the NPA, said Brenda Madumise-Pajibo, director of legal advocacy group Wise4Afrika.

“It was good that, as South Africans, we got to have a closer look at the NDPP,”  Madumise-Pajibo said, adding that Batohi’s conduct was disappointing and showed a lack of humility.

“What she has done has not given the comfort that she knew what she was doing when she called President [Cyril] Ramaphosa to establish the inquiry.”

Batohi would leave behind a legacy of being “intransigent” and refusing to be held accountable and her conduct had eroded public confidence in the office of the NDPP,  Madumise-Pajibo said, assessing her tenure as largely mediocre.

Batohi is expected to finish her seven-year term as NPA boss in January 2026. The ministry of justice and constitutional development recently concluded public interviews of six candidates shortlisted to replace her. 

Lawson Naidoo, the executive director of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, concurred that Batohi appeared unprepared for the scrutiny she faced during cross-examination.

“Batohi was not well prepared in terms of what would come out in the cross-examination,” Naidoo said, adding that the Nkabinde inquiry would inevitably mar her record.

Batohi had nonetheless left the NPA in a stronger institutional position, including by making the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption a permanent structure, Naidoo said, adding: “It is an unfortunate place for one to end one’s term.”

“The NPA had been hollowed out, and seven directors had been removed during [former president Jacob] Zuma’s term,” he said.

Naidoo cautioned that longstanding structural weaknesses remain, including the NPA’s lack of financial independence and reliance on the justice department and treasury.

“Whoever comes in will be saddled with the structural issues — the financial and operational dependence on other institutions,” he said.

Redpath said although there may have been suitable candidates among the 32 applicants for the NDPP post, many were excluded for lacking the required 10 years of managerial experience. Of the six shortlisted, she said only Hermione Cronje was “bringing something different”.

Redpath said Cronje was able to “diagnose the problems” within the NPA and warned that the next NDPP must address skills shortages, possibly by drawing on external expertise and bringing in Ngcukaitobi. 

“They have struggled to hire the best of the best because of financing issues,” she said, adding: “the NPA can’t compete with private law firms”.

She said the next NDPP must confront what she described as Batohi’s reluctance to acknowledge institutional failure.

“The unwillingness to admit when things are not okay and confront issues head on, whether the problem is the police, politicians or prosecutors,” Redpath said.

Madumise-Pajibo said she hoped the next NDPP would rise to the challenge and also identified Cronje as the most promising candidate.

“She has credentials and everything we hope for. The question is whether she will be able to implement her vision in this tough political climate — will her vision be accepted?” she said.

She added that the next NDPP must assess the calibre of prosecutors within the NPA and invest in skills development.

“They must do a cross-analysis on who the best prosecutors are and start setting up the best team in the country to train the rest,” she said.

Safeguarding the independence of the NPA required reinforcing the buffer between the president and the NDPP to limit political interference and restore public trust.

“Decisions on who should be prosecuted lie in the hands of the NPA,” she said.