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Batohi’s appointment as NPA boss irks some of her new colleagues

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Advocate Shamila Batohi moments after being announced by president Cyril Ramaphosa to be the new NDPP head. Picture: Felix Dlangamandla
Advocate Shamila Batohi moments after being announced by president Cyril Ramaphosa to be the new NDPP head. Picture: Felix Dlangamandla

She’s not short on detractors, but Batohi’s former colleagues say she’ll ensure the NPA evolves from being ‘a lapdog to a watchdog’

New prosecutions boss Shamila Batohi’s old colleagues say she is the perfect person to bring much-needed stability and reform to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

But this week’s appointment of Batohi – who is in her early 60s and who last worked for the NPA almost 10 years ago as director of public prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal – has irked some of her new colleagues.

Some are dismissive of her skills and remain sceptical after colleagues in her home province accused her of racism, despite the fact that Batohi, in her interview for the post, described the allegations as baseless, unspecific and broad.

Shortly after her appointment, WhatsApp messages from “angry and disappointed” prosecutors began to fly.

Members of various factions within the organisation are already whispering about what Batohi’s appointment means for their futures.

Some aligned to suspended deputy national director Nomgcobo Jiba regard the appointment with suspicion, saying Batohi is “just talk” and a “good orator” who managed to score points because she was more articulate than others.

In another opposing faction, prosecutors are adopting a wait-and-see approach. But both sides agree that she did a superb job getting former Proteas cricket captain Hansie Cronje to admit to match-fixing.

RIOT ACT

In her acceptance speech on Wednesday, Batohi read the riot act to those within the organisation concerned with factional agendas. This did not go down well with everyone.

A senior prosecutor said: “I also had a problem with her welcome speech, where she makes certain conclusions without having been inside the organisation and conducting her own investigation.”

Another senior prosecutor, who worked in the same office as Batohi when she headed the now defunct Scorpions in KwaZulu-Natal, said that, while he still had reservations, Batohi had what it took to lead the NPA.

“She just needs the necessary support, and all should be fine. I did have my reservations regarding how she treated black prosecutors, but I guess one cannot be condemned for life. We all make mistakes and I hope she has learnt from hers,” he said.

“Something about her is that she is a good orator, too, and a very reasonable person.”

Another of Batohi’s admirers is Howard Varney, now a senior programme adviser at the International Centre for Transitional Justice, who worked with her in the mid-1990s in the Investigation Task Unit appointed by former president Nelson Mandela to investigate hit squads established by the former SA Defence Force to act against enemies of the apartheid state.

Varney recalls how they approached then justice minister Dullah Omar to ask if Batohi could work with them.

“The Investigation Task Unit requested the services of Shamila because she had already earned the reputation of a fearless prosecutor,” he said.

“On her secondment, then Natal Attorney-General Tim McNally announced that she would not be permitted to appear in any court within his jurisdiction.

“McNally was well known as an apartheid apologist and had already declared in the discredited Harms Commission that there were no police death squads – in the face of compelling evidence from Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee and others.”

UNQUESTIONABLE INTEGRITY

Varney said McNally effectively banned Batohi from prosecuting any Investigation Task Unit cases, which he believed was because “McNally realised that she had unquestionable integrity and the technical competence to nail the top brass, be they politicians or generals”.

Varney, who chaired the board overseeing the unit, said Batohi helped them prepare compelling cases against former defence minister Magnus Malan, as well high-ranking personnel in the former KwaZulu police and KwaZulu government.

“McNally doggedly refused to prosecute a number of murder cases against KwaZulu police officers and only agreed to take up the Malan case in the face of overwhelming evidence,” he said.

While McNally’s strategy, Varney said, was to conduct one of the “most incompetent prosecutions ever conducted in a South African court”, Batohi was confined to the sidelines and “forced to observe with utter dismay this travesty of justice”.

It was “absolutely fitting”, he said, that McNally would be remembered with “enduring ignominy, while Batohi assumes the post of national director of public prosecutions”.

“She is no longer on the sidelines. Shamila will have her work cut out for her in turning the NPA from a lapdog into a watchdog. I have no doubt she is the right person for the job,” he said.

Batohi takes office in February, when her notice period as a senior legal adviser to the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague comes to an end.

She replaces Shaun Abrahams, who faced substantial criticism for his handling of high-profile cases, bending over backwards for politicians and making apparently irrational decisions.

Batohi needs to repair the massive damage inflicted on the NPA in recent years.

She will also have to do this without the top staff the authority used to have, as many skilled prosecutors have left for the private sector.

She will also have to try to win cases investigated by an understaffed police service and a hollowed out Hawks unit with scant forensic investigative capacity.

At her age, Batohi will not be able to serve even half of her 10-year term because the National Prosecuting Authority Act prohibits any national director from serving past retirement age. Only time will tell whether she will be able to bring the reforms the NPA needs before she is forced to retire.

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