ActionSA march for NPA's Shamila Batohi's resignation
(The Post News)- ActionSA has intensified its call for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shamila Batohi to step down, with a march in Johannesburg on Thursday to express their frustration over what they describe as “weak leadership” and “lack of accountability” within the NPA.
Addressing supporters, ActionSA MP Athol Trollip accused Batohi of allegedly being disengaged from key prosecutions. He referenced Batohi’s response to a journalist’s question about the Cholota case.
“She replied, “I don’t know – ask the provincial director of public prosecutions of the Free State,”Trollip said.
He also criticized NPA’s handling of high-profile cases, making reference to how prosecutors “botched” the televangelist Timothy Omotoso’s case.
“The first prosecutors were kicked off by the NPA, and they were reassigned to go prosecute the Fort Hare corruption scam – where supply chain management has been taken over by a ‘university mafia’ and people are being assassinated,” he claimed. “So they are taking a prosecutor off from one case and they take them to a more important case.”
Trollip further accused Batohi of complaining about corruption within the NPA, and the appointment of corrupt prosecutors.
“The NPA and Shamila Batohi always say we reviewing it, we reviewing the performance but we never see any remedial action. Nobody is held to account. No prosecutors have been prosecuted. That is where we need to go, if the prosecutors are being bought they need to be prosecuted but nobody gets prosecuted,” he said.
In recent weeks, Batohi has expressed concerns about improper appointments with in the NPA, Trollip responded “Who appoints them? She is the one who appoints,” but she later complains about appointments not being conducted properly.
He further questioned Batohi’s credibility, asking if she is aloof, disengaged, disconnected, or captured?
” We want those questions answered. We want her suspended, and we want a deep investigation into the NPA”, Trollip added.
Trollip emphasized that they are not asking for her to be fired immediately but to first conduct investigations against her.
“We don’t want them to fire her now, because she will go to court and contest being fired for the next six months until she retires – then she will go home with her retirement package. We want her investigated and NPA investigated now,” said Trollip
The criticism comes as Batohi continues to face pressure from several political parties, who accuse her of weak leadership – particularly over delays in State Capture prosecutions and other prominent cases.
On Wednesday Batohi appeared before Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), where she told Members of Parliament that she had no intentions of resigning.
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