Head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Shamila Batohi, says time for impunity is over. Batohi briefed Parliament on the NPA 2019/20 and first quarter of 2020/21 Annual Report.
NPA boss, Shamila Batohi says the days of impunity are numbered. She and her team are presenting to Parliament’s PC on Justice. Since April, 26 corruption cases have been enrolled. Says this week’s events are evident that work is being done. #sabcnews
— Abra Barbier (@BarbierAbra) October 7, 2020
However, she cautioned that a reduction in resources could seriously hamper the fight against corruption going forward.
ACDP’s Steve Swart says it doesn’t make sense to cut the NPA budget, considering how many billions the Authority is able to recover from crime. #sabcnews
— Abra Barbier (@BarbierAbra) October 7, 2020
She says it has taken a lot of effort to rebuild staff morale and the credibility of the organisation. But she says the largely committed group of prosecutors are getting the work done.
She says since April this year, 26 cases were enrolled.
Besides the challenges of skills and capacity, head of the Investigative Directorate, Hermoine Cronje, says cooperation with other countries has been challenging.
Last month, Batohi said any private funding to the NPA would be handled with transparency and accountability. This after the NPA had suggested the idea of using funds from private donors for the cash-strapped institution.
Batohi had previously cited several challenges faced by the NPA, including severe budgetary limitations, which had led to high vacancy rates and low staff morale.
She said the NPA needed to ensure that their receiving of private funding is not perceived as a form of state capture.
“It’s not like I am pursuing it. This has been something that government has, various projects which have been funded through donors and other types of other funding. But of course, we have to make sure that the perception that the NPA is not being captured. So, we are aware of that. There are provisions within the government framework and Treasury regulations to ensure that this type of funding is managed transparently. There is accountability as far as that is concerned, which we take very seriously.”
