Batohi admits she hoped state capture cases would be ‘further down the line’
National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi on Wednesday admitted that she would have liked the NPA to have made more progress in prosecuting state capture-related cases.
The head of the national prosecutions office spoke at a media roundtable in Pretoria amid concerns over the slow pace in dealing with cases related to state capture.
Last year, Batohi promised MPs that corruption and state capture-related cases would remain a priority for the NPA.
Over the past year, the Hawks have made at least 33 arrests based on recommendations in the final report of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
However, there has been a distinct lack of successful prosecutions.
“It’s only with regards to the state capture cases that I thought we would have been further down the line,” Batohi said.
“For everything else in the NPA, I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved and how far we have come since the new leadership took over.”
Batohi, who has been in the position for five years, said that while the wheels of justice might be turning too slow for some, the era of impunity is over in South Africa.
“Even though the arm of the law might be long, it catches up. So, the big difference is that impunity is no longer given, and those involved in corrupt activities know that even though there may not be a knock on the door yet, it’s coming. And that in itself, perhaps, is mental incarceration.
“It needs to be understood that, once we enroll a case, it needs to move swiftly through the system so that we get to the end where we can say that a decision has been rendered by the judiciary.”
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