National Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Shamila Batohi speaks moments after her appointment was announced by President Cyril Ramaphsa at the Union Buildings on November 4, 2018 in Pretoria, South Africa. Batohi is the first woman to be appointed the National Director of Public Prosecutions and started her role in February 2019. (Photo by Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe)
NPA successful in convicting 210 corrupt government officials
The NPA has made solid gains in its fight against political graft and corruption by boosting it commercial crimes conviction rate.
National Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Shamila Batohi speaks moments after her appointment was announced by President Cyril Ramaphsa at the Union Buildings on November 4, 2018 in Pretoria, South Africa. Batohi is the first woman to be appointed the National Director of Public Prosecutions and started her role in February 2019. (Photo by Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe)
In its annual report to Parliament, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has stated that it has increased its commercial crimes conviction rate to 95% and has successfully convicted more than 350 people over the last 12 months.
NPA conviction rate on the rise
The NPA claimed its conviction rate across the board had increased, but it was specifically proud of the work it had achieved in tackling corruption and graft.
Commercial crime convictions were up 2% to 95% with more than 350 people convicted of corruption in the last year alone.
“The NPA is dedicated to contributing to the fight against corruption. To this end, 17 persons were convicted of corruption where the amount involved is more than R5m whilst 210 government officials and 143 private persons were convicted for offences related to corruption,” the NPA stated the report.
NPA report
This is an especially significant achievement, according to NPA head Shamila Batohi, because of the challenges being faced by the organisation.
“This report covers a period prior to my taking office as the National Director of Public Prosecutions, marked by allegations of improper conduct by members of the leadership and possible complicity in state capture, which have emerged in the various commissions of enquiry, in particular the state capture commission led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. This has resulted in serious damage to the NPA’s reputation and credibility,” she said.
Shamila Batohi
The report also revealed great success in organised crime with a 94% conviction rate, including 296 convictions out of 310 cases in the last financial year.
More money required to build on success
However, the situation is certainly not as rosy as it might appear by the above statistics. Back in May 2019, Batohi pleaded to Parliament for more funding for the NPA as budgetary constraints had left it under severe pressure and negatively impacted staff morale.
“We won’t be able to deliver the service people expect if this situation persists,” Batohi said at the time.
“I didn’t quite appreciate the depth and extent of the challenges that I would be facing in trying to revitalise the NPA, both internally and externally.”
Shamila Batohi
Hopefully, the good news about conviction rates won’t serve to convince Parliament that the NPA is actually adequately, or even worse over, funded in its current operations.
“It is hugely important that we recapacitate the NPA. We need to access more money for the NPA. Those who wanted to fight the good fight had a really difficult time.”
Shamila Batohi
