Shamila Batohi corruption municipalities

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 24: National Director of Public Prosecutions (NPPA) Adv Shamila Batohi (L) during a media briefing in Silverton where she introduced the new Investigating Director Adv Hermione Cronje (R) at NPA Head Office on Friday, 24 May 2019. (Photo by Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe)

Investigating Directorate: NPA corruption unit gets R37m boost

Batohi’s unit just got a massive financial boost before the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement.

Shamila Batohi corruption municipalities

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 24: National Director of Public Prosecutions (NPPA) Adv Shamila Batohi (L) during a media briefing in Silverton where she introduced the new Investigating Director Adv Hermione Cronje (R) at NPA Head Office on Friday, 24 May 2019. (Photo by Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe)

The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services has injected R37-million into the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) newly-founded Investigating Directorate.

This investment, Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola revealed, is key in bringing forth the second-coming of a unit like the Scorpions.

Soon after Shamila Batohi was appointed the head of the NPA, her first order of business was to establish the Directorate, whose mandate is to oversee high profile cases related to fraud, forgery, theft “and any offence involving dishonesty.”

What is the mandate of the Investigating Directorate?

This proactive move was a response to public reactions to the developments that came out of the Zondo commission. in the Directorate’s proclamation, it is stated that the scope of its work will include, but not be limited to:

  • The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector;
  • The Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance by Sars;
  • The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations for Impropriety regarding the Public Investment Corporation; and
  • any other high profile or complex cases of corruption.

As the abovementioned processes are still ongoing, with the Nugent Inquiry (related to Sars) being the only matter concluded, the structure of the Directorate is still being finalised.

Lamola: R37m will bring ID to life

Recently, President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed Hermione Cronje to the helm of the unit.

It is her duty to lead the Directorate in its teething phase and establish the workforce needed to handle the complex cases that are coming out of these inquiries.

For Lamola, more discussions are to be had with Batohi ahead of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in October.

He confirmed that the R37-million will be injected before this and that this would go a long way in providing the much-needed relief in the budget constraints the NPA has been faced with.