After years of sustained pressure by the Democratic Alliance, President Ramaphosa has finally acted against South Gauteng NPA Director Adv. Andrew Chauke. The DA welcomes this as an important step toward the revival of a crumbling National Prosecuting Authority and urges the President to make the restoration of the South African criminal justice system a top priority.
Adv. Chauke’s time as director has not assisted in the fight against crime and corruption. It immeasurably complicated the attempts by the National Director of Public Prosecutions to rescue the NPA. Luthuli House’s inability to muster the political will to fix the destruction caused by the former president is a failure it will never recover from. Our spiraling crime rate is a direct result of the decades of erosion of our criminal Justice system.
As part of the GNU, the DA is determined to work with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to restore the rule of law, end corruption and create a safer South Africa. Keeping citizens safe should not be a politicised issue and the DA calls for greater collaboration within the GNU to eradicate the crime epidemic.
Chauke was appointed by former President Zuma to do his bidding. He protected the corrupt and delayed many prosecutions against elements of state capture. He protected murder accused former Crime Intelligence head Richard Mdluli and shielded the former president’s son Edward Zuma from being prosecuted for corruption.
Crime and corruption are two of the biggest stumbling blocks in growing the economy, luring investment and creating jobs. While the DA welcomes the president’s suspension of Chauke, we reiterate that much more needs to be done to rebuild South Africans’ trust in the justice system.
The DA has led the drive for a more capable NPA and will continue to do so in its pledge to rescue South Africa.