Panel grills acting head of prosecuting authority
Acting national director of public prosecutions Silas Ramaite faced a grilling from an eight-member interviewing panel on Wednesday, with his vague answers drawing the ire of panellists.
Ramaite was the first of 11 candidates to be interviewed for the National Prosecuting Authority’s top job.
The candidates will be interviewed in the next three days by the panel chaired by energy minister Jeff Radebe.
In response to varied questions‚ Ramaite was vague and obfuscating.
“There shouldn’t be any concern about the NPA‚” he said.
When asked directly about the chaos plaguing the prosecuting authority‚ he constantly referred to a longstanding culture in the organisation.
Radebe had to interrupt him on several occasions‚ and implored him to be more specific.
“You have been asked direct questions.
“We want to know what’s happening in the NPA.
“What’s your role?” Radebe asked.
When he was specifically asked what he would do differently‚ Ramaite said he had no new ideas to bring to the NPA.
“The ideas are not fresh at all‚ they are already there‚” he said.
When Ramaite was pressed on the cause of instability at the prosecuting authority‚ he said only that it was the exit of the two former national directors‚ Mxolisi Nxasana and Shaun Abrahams‚ that had affected the organisation.
“I am not personally aware of any interference [at the NPA]‚” he said.
Ramaite said he often disagreed with decisions taken‚ but had not taken matters further.
“We just agreed to disagree‚” he said.
He was further chastised by a panellist for talking about the NPA as if he was not there.
Ramaite has been acting national director of public prosecutions since August, when the Constitutional Court found that Abrahams’s appointment was invalid.
He has been a deputy director of public prosecutions for more than 15 years and was one of five candidates that were due to be interviewed on Wednesday for the position.
The interviews were open to the media after the North Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of the Right2Know campaign for media access.
Former Transnet general manager advocate Siyabulela Mapoma, the second candidate to be interviewed, listed his passion for the law as among the factors that made him an ideal candidate.
“I am good with stakeholder management – in this case‚ the other partners in the [security] cluster‚” he said‚ adding that he was also good at managing pressure.
That pressure‚ Mapoma said‚ could come from everywhere – from society to the presidency.
“But [you] should not allow any form of pressure to influence you‚” he said.
Mapoma said it was known that decisions taken by the NPA were not always popular.
“There will always be some complaints of some kind, but you learn to live with that.
“You know you are accountable to all the individuals of the country.
“That is where your focus should be.”
He said another way to survive the position would be to stick to the constitution and ensure that one’s independence remained clear.
Unlike Ramaite‚ who has years of experience in the legal fraternity‚ Mapoma has only been practising for six years.
Meanwhile, DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach has withdrawn her candidacy for the job.
She has given a thumbs-up to the candidates shortlisted for the position‚ with Shamila Batohi‚ Rodney de Kock and Mapoma her preferred candidates.
Breytenbach‚ a prosecutor by profession‚ described the position of national director of public prosecutions as a dream job, but said she had to withdraw because the prosecuting authority not only had to be politically independent but also had to be seen to be immune to political influence.
“I’ve propagated the view in the past and the DA’s position is that the NDPP should be someone who is fiercely independent and would prosecute without fear‚ favour or prejudice‚” she told a media conference in parliament.
Breytenbach left the NPA in 2014 to join the DA.