Cash-strapped NPA under pressure

PRETORIA: The prosecutions boss yesterday said budgetary constraints had left the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) under severe pressure and caused low staff morale.

Shamila Batohi, who took up the position of National Director of Public Prosecutions on February 1, said the organisation had been unable to recruit more staff to its ranks since 2016 as a result of the financial pressure.

Batohi said this had affected the morale of prosecutors and led to some cases being neglected.

“We won’t be able to deliver the service people expect if this situation persists,” she told a media briefing where she introduced Hermione Cronje, who will head the NPA’S Investigative Directorate.

Batohi said she had not anticipated some of the problems and was dismayed at the state of the NPA.

“I didn’t quite anticipate the depth and extent of the challenges that I would be facing in trying to revitalise the NPA, both internally and externally.”

She said one of the challenges she had encountered was a leadership crisis.

She further highlighted what she termed a “lack of budget for the prosecuting authority”, describing this as a serious problem given the endemic levels of corruption.

“I’m looking at some of the decisions and thinking about how we could have taken these decisions. In many ways we failed the people of South Africa. It was disappointing,” she said.

Both Batohi and Cronje have made it clear that they are going after those who have weakened and undermined the criminal justice system.