NPA boss Shamila Batohi. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla)
The NPA has always been in the wars. But there is now a semblance of calm and organisation. And the president isn’t interfering, which is a departure from the usual practice, writes Pieter du Toit.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), formed in 1998 out of the old provincial attorneys-general dispensation, has arguably never been a functional organisation. And it has been a permanent target for political interference.
Its mandate is to prosecute crimes on behalf of the state, and to do so “without fear or favour”, as the NPA’s motto declares. But the appointment of Bulelani Ngcuka as the first National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) set the tone for the wars that the NPA had to fight subsequently. An ANC activist, Ngcuka was the ANC’s chief whip in the National Council of Provinces after 1994 and became its deputy chairperson before going to the NPA.
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