Associate at the Institute of Race Relations, Gabriel Crouse, says while the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided to withdraw racketeering charges against former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Johan Booysen – the Authority still maintains a credibility gap.
The NPA says the panel could not find sufficient evidence to warrant proceedings against the former Hawks boss.
However, it has pointed out that other charges against Booysen are still under investigation.
Booysen says he feels vindicated and is optimistic that the other charges against him will be withdrawn.
Crouse says the NPA seems to be at war with itself.
“I am not really surprised and I think as General Booysen has pointed out, there is a lot of reason to believe that there was a political motivation to go after him in the first place to stop him from pursuing very powerful corridors of power. So for the charges to be dropped with the changing of the guard in the NPA, it doesn’t seem like a surprise. There is a credibility gap with the NPA being at war with itself, with one faction accusing the other of peddling corruption and protecting the criminals. When the NPA drops the charges we don’t know what those reasons and while the general feels vindicated, we won’t get a very good answer for it unless something changes.”
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