Dear Mr. President,
The current National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Advocate Shamila Batohi turns 65 in January, upon which she will be forced to retire from her position. Failing your immediate action to find her replacement, our prosecuting authority will not have a leader. After decades of decline, a vacancy in the position of National Director is the last thing the NPA and South Africans need.
In finding a replacement for the current NDPP, you were given a golden opportunity to put the NPA on a path of renewal. There are now only six months remaining to find a replacement, and you have shown every intention of letting that opportunity slip through your fingers.
Corruption and violent crime are spiraling out of control. Criminals go unpunished because the NPA no longer has the capacity to put them behind bars. Part of the solution to fixing the NPA and ensuring the safety of South Africans is a qualified, capable NDPP at the helm that can lead our prosecutorial body out of the shadows cast by the criminal elements within your party.
Mr. President, your party has a long and dark history of doing everything in its power to destroy the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). It is doubtful whether the damage inflicted on the NPA by attacks from Luthuli house can be repaired in our lifetime
Your lackluster attitude and willful inaction in fighting crime and corruption, coupled with the obvious lack of political will within the ANC to promote justice and accountability flies in the face of everything you promised South Africa during your first and second terms as President.
If you were serious about rebuilding an NPA, hollowed out by your predecessor, should we not have seen evidence of a reinvigorated, more capable and competent NPA by now? Alas, since you assumed office more than seven and a half years ago, institutional problems within the NPA have deepened while it struggles blindly from one blundered prosecution to the next. Empty promises by yourself and your party ring hollow while South Africans suffer.
Our Constitution, read with section 10 of the NPA Act demands that you appoint a National Director of Public Prosecutions. I have stated publicly that this mandate opens the appointment to abuse (the appointment of Shaun Abrahams by your predecessor springs to mind).
The National Prosecuting Authority should be independent and have its head appointed by the National Assembly. Your flagrant disregard for your constitutional duty to find a replacement for Adv. Batohi seems to indicate that you agree.
A Private Members Bill that amends the NPA Act and couches the mandate of appointing both National- and Deputy National Directors in the National Assembly is in the works. Unfortunately, such an amendment will take time – time which we simply do not have at our disposal.
I urge you to fulfil your mandate in starting the process of appointing Adv. Batohi’s replacement immediately. Seeing as the quality of your appointment will affect all South Africans, I suggest that you follow a transparent process that incorporates public participation and Parliamentary deliberations in finding candidates for the position.
South Africans are exposed to record levels of crime every day because of the decline in the NPA facilitated by your party. Therefore, the people of South Africa deserve to have a say in selecting the next National Director.
Your time as leader of this country has been categorised by empty promises and a failure to rectify the crimes of your predecessors. You now have a chance to act and improve the lives of those you claim to value. I strongly suggest you take it.
Yours faithfully,
Adv. Glynnis Breytenbach
DA Spokesperson on Justice and Constitutional Development