Good morning, fellow South Africans. The delivery of this Memorandum is very significant for us at ActionSA and for South Africa.
We have waited year after year, since the appointment of Advocate Shamila Batohi as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in February 2019, for signs of prosecutions against the authors of state capture and other forms of corruption – including Phala Phala – but, other than small side shows and many excuses, she has delivered nothing for the people of our country.
We are here this morning to say that enough is enough!
The Zondo Commission has led to nothing, thanks to the NPA’s inability or unwillingness to pursue powerful politicians who have committed treasonous crimes against our state. Many others in the private sector and foreigners who came to commit heinous crimes have also seen cases against them collapse, thanks to high levels of prosecutorial incompetence, at best, or disinterest, at the NPA.
We therefore submit this memorandum to bring to the attention of the NPA and South Africans the deepening, and now intolerable, crisis of leadership under Advocate Shamila Batohi.
All this NDPP has achieved over the past six years is the hollowing out of South Africa’s prosecutorial credibility.
We are here to call upon the Minister of Justice, as the Cabinet member responsible for Justice and Constitutional Development, to engage the President to exercise the powers afforded to him under Section 12 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, and to initiate the formal process for the removal of the NDPP on the grounds of gross incompetence. The failures of the NPA are not merely administrative, they are now existential.
The institution’s collapse has corroded the rule of law, emboldened criminal syndicates and corrupt elites, and denied justice to victims. In its current state, the NPA is not just failing its constitutional mandate, it at times seems to be actively undermining it.
Background and Context Advocate Shamila Batohi’s appointment in December 2018 was intended to mark a break from the dark era of State Capture — a period marked by political interference and institutional decay. Her arrival was met with rare national consensus and a genuine sense of hope: that justice would finally be restored and those responsible for looting the state would be held accountable.
Yet, nearly six years later, that hope has curdled into deep public disillusionment. The institution remains directionless, riven by internal factionalism, and wholly unable, or unwilling, to act decisively against either high-level corruption or pervasive violent crime.
Despite overwhelming evidence presented by the Zondo Commission, the NPA has failed to deliver even the most basic semblance of prosecutorial justice. Its inertia is no longer a temporary dysfunction but a sustained and systemic failure — with far-reaching consequences for every South African.
What we have outlined in this Memorandum are merely the high-profile examples of NPA failures.
Countless other cases illustrate the shambolic state of the NPA. For the sake of our democracy and to ensure that the principle that all are equal before the law, it is high time that ultimate accountability is enforced, starting with the NDPP.
We therefore call upon the Minister of Justice, as the Cabinet member responsible for Justice and Constitutional Development, to engage the President to exercise the powers afforded to him under Section 12 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, and to initiate the formal process for the removal of the NDPP on the grounds of gross incompetence.
A new NDPP must be appointed, someone capable of swiftly and effectively leading a renewal programme to restore public confidence in the institution. ActionSA therefore calls on the Minister to respond to this request within seven days.
ActionSA Hands Over Memorandum Calling for the Removal of NPA Head, Adv. Shamila Batohi
Good morning, fellow South Africans. The delivery of this Memorandum is very significant for us at ActionSA and for South Africa.
We have waited year after year, since the appointment of Advocate Shamila Batohi as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in February 2019, for signs of prosecutions against the authors of state capture and other forms of corruption – including Phala Phala – but, other than small side shows and many excuses, she has delivered nothing for the people of our country.
We are here this morning to say that enough is enough!
The Zondo Commission has led to nothing, thanks to the NPA’s inability or unwillingness to pursue powerful politicians who have committed treasonous crimes against our state. Many others in the private sector and foreigners who came to commit heinous crimes have also seen cases against them collapse, thanks to high levels of prosecutorial incompetence, at best, or disinterest, at the NPA.
We therefore submit this memorandum to bring to the attention of the NPA and South Africans the deepening, and now intolerable, crisis of leadership under Advocate Shamila Batohi.
All this NDPP has achieved over the past six years is the hollowing out of South Africa’s prosecutorial credibility.
We are here to call upon the Minister of Justice, as the Cabinet member responsible for Justice and Constitutional Development, to engage the President to exercise the powers afforded to him under Section 12 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, and to initiate the formal process for the removal of the NDPP on the grounds of gross incompetence. The failures of the NPA are not merely administrative, they are now existential.
The institution’s collapse has corroded the rule of law, emboldened criminal syndicates and corrupt elites, and denied justice to victims. In its current state, the NPA is not just failing its constitutional mandate, it at times seems to be actively undermining it.
Background and Context Advocate Shamila Batohi’s appointment in December 2018 was intended to mark a break from the dark era of State Capture — a period marked by political interference and institutional decay. Her arrival was met with rare national consensus and a genuine sense of hope: that justice would finally be restored and those responsible for looting the state would be held accountable.
Yet, nearly six years later, that hope has curdled into deep public disillusionment. The institution remains directionless, riven by internal factionalism, and wholly unable, or unwilling, to act decisively against either high-level corruption or pervasive violent crime.
Despite overwhelming evidence presented by the Zondo Commission, the NPA has failed to deliver even the most basic semblance of prosecutorial justice. Its inertia is no longer a temporary dysfunction but a sustained and systemic failure — with far-reaching consequences for every South African.
What we have outlined in this Memorandum are merely the high-profile examples of NPA failures.
Countless other cases illustrate the shambolic state of the NPA. For the sake of our democracy and to ensure that the principle that all are equal before the law, it is high time that ultimate accountability is enforced, starting with the NDPP.
We therefore call upon the Minister of Justice, as the Cabinet member responsible for Justice and Constitutional Development, to engage the President to exercise the powers afforded to him under Section 12 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act, and to initiate the formal process for the removal of the NDPP on the grounds of gross incompetence.
A new NDPP must be appointed, someone capable of swiftly and effectively leading a renewal programme to restore public confidence in the institution. ActionSA therefore calls on the Minister to respond to this request within seven days.