Outgoing national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi. Photo: Oupa Nkosi
Outgoing national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi used her final day in office on Friday to reflect on her seven-year tenure, saying she leaves behind a stronger and more resilient National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Presenting the NPA’s 2024/2025 annual report, Batohi described institutional rebuilding as her central achievement, saying that the entity she inherited in 2019 had been weakened by the era of state capture.
“I leave behind an NPA that is more independent, more credible, more resilient and more future ready than the one I inherited when I took office seven years ago,” she said, urging her successor Andy Mothibi to fight for more institutional independence and for competitive salaries to attract high profile advocates.
Batohi said her return to South Africa from the International Criminal Court in The Hague in February 2019 to take up the post came as the NPA faced declining public trust and operational challenges.
“We had to rebuild a broken institution while simultaneously delivering on our core prosecutorial responsibilities, given the understandable impatience for accountability and justice in this country,” she said, describing the early period of her term as “a time that was marked by institutional decay, erosion of public trust and a deeply compromised criminal justice system”.
Batohi pointed to marginal progress in high-profile corruption cases involving the Gupta family which was at the centre of state capture, as well as state-owned enterprises such as logistics company Transnet.
Earlier on Friday, the NPA said the case against former public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba, former Transnet group chief financial officer together Anoj Singh, former group chief executive Brian Molefe, former chief executive Siyabonga Gama and former chief procurement officer Thamsanqa Jiyane had been postponed to 19 February at the South Gauteng High Court.
The indictments served on the group relate to a process of acquiring locomotives to expand and modernise the country’s rail infrastructure, during which the tender processes were flouted and three contracts were irregularly awarded to provide Transnet with 95, 100 and 1 064 locomotives in three different contracts, resulting in a loss of billions of rands for the entity.
“As much as many cases, important cases have not gone to finality, many of the key Gupta lieutenants are in court and many in this particular [Transnet] case as well,” Batohi said.
She acknowledged public frustration over the pace of prosecutions but stressed that complex corruption and organised crime cases take years to conclude.
“Despite important progress in various areas, South Africans are understandably frustrated by the slow pace of complex corruption cases and the lack of orange overalls for the most egregious offenders,” she said.
“They require intelligence, documents from multiple jurisdictions that must meet admissibility requirements, skilled investigators, forensic analysis and most importantly a justice system that can withstand relentless delay tactics.”
Batohi also addressed reports that she had walked out of the Nkabinde inquiry which is examining the fitness of South Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions Andrew Chauke to hold office. This is after she halted her testimony, citing concerns about the line of questioning from Chauke’s counsel.
“All I’m going to say on this platform is that: One, I did not walk out of the inquiry, two, I am not a delinquent and three, I would really like to say that I’m committed to this process,” Batohi said on Friday. She said she had spent 15 days testifying and did not “intend to not continue with the inquiry”.
Batohi said the NPA had steadily improved its target achievement rates over recent financial years, moving from achieving 50% of its targets in 2020/2021 to 75% in 2022/2023, 73% in 2023/2024 and 85% in 2024/2025, with performance exceeding 90% in the current financial year.
She highlighted the formal establishment of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption in August 2024, saying it was handling 50 high-profile matters involving 332 individuals and entities.
Further achievements included hundreds of corruption-related convictions and progress in complex commercial crime prosecutions.
“We’ve made really excellent progress in recovering the proceeds of crime, sending the message that really, crime must not pay,” she said.
Batohi said accountability involved both convictions and the recovery of stolen public funds. She noted that the Asset Forfeiture Unit had recovered R1.96 billion, with a significant portion channelled into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account.
“Recently another R1 billion has been dispersed to the South African Police Service to fight organised crime and another R900 million towards gender-based violence,” she said.
Total recoveries over the past five years represented 47% of all recoveries made by the Asset Forfeiture Unit since its establishment in 1999.
Batohi also cited partnerships with the private sector that contributed to the establishment of 66 Thuthuzela Care Centres aimed at supporting victims of abuse.
Batohi commended the Madlanga Commission, which is investigating allegations of corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.
“This is our opportunity to really take on board recommendations from the Madlanga commission and make very important reforms across the system,” she said.
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