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Mixed reactions to NPA decision to drop charges against SARS employees

Shamila Batohi
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There have been mixed reactions from political parties to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shamila Batohi’s decision to drop all charges against former SARS deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay and his former colleagues Andries Janse van Rensburg and Johan van Loggerenberg.

Batohi announced her decision on Friday, citing a lack of reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution.

The trio faced various charges, including setting up the illegal so-called SARS rogue unit to spy on taxpayers.

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) shadow Justice Minister Glynnis Breytenbach, who herself is a seasoned prosecutor, says this should not be the end of the case.

“What has happened here is that Pillay, Van Loggerenberg and Van Rensburg were persecuted by certain elements with the prosecuting authority deciding to place the matter on the roll and then drag it out for years, thereby impoverishing these three men; submitting them to public and private humiliation, destroying their families and their family lives. There must be consequences for that kind of thing.”

WATCH VIDEO ON CALLS FOR BATOHI TO PUNISH THOSE WITHIN THE NPA WHO INSTITUTED FRIVOLOUS CHARGES AGAINST THE “SARS ROGUE UNIT”

However, the newly-appointed Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) national spokesperson Delisile Ngwenya says it’s wrong for the NDPP to drop the charges without allowing the law to run its course.

“Why withdraw the case, why can’t you let it go on? The trial had started. Why withdraw in the middle of the process? Let it go on so that the public and the people of South Africa are able to make their own decisions, based on having to see the whole trial going through and make their own decisions. Why do you decide just to withdraw the case in the middle of the case?”

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