Ramaphosa to name new prosecutions boss today
Five legal eagles are on shortlist
President Cyril Ramaphosa will today announce what is potentially the most important appointment since he took office in February – that of the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP). Following a historic selection process, which involved an advisory panel interviewing 11 candidates for the post for the first time since the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was established in 1998, Ramaphosa will make the announcement at the Union Buildings.
The appointment of the NDPP has in the past been a politically laden one and concerns over the independence of the country’s top prosecutor were raised during the presidencies of both Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.
A glaring indication of this was testimony before the commission of inquiry into state capture last week, when ANC leader advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi and his former adviser, advocate Mahlodi Muofhe, said Muofhe was offered the post of NDPP, and believed the condition of his appointment would be that he “did not touch” Zuma ally in the NPA, Nomgcobo Jiba. Muofhe said Zuma was upset that then NPA head Mxolisi Nxasana had charged Jiba. He told the commission he believed Zuma wanted to appoint him but Jiba would be the “default” NPA head. Former NPA head Shaun Abrahams was eventually appointed instead. Ramaphosa’s advisory panel, chaired by energy minister Jeff Radebe, shortlisted five nominees for the post.
The selection will be made from this group of five. They are advocates Shamila Batohi, Siyabulela Mapoma, Simphiwe Mlotshwa, Rodney de Kock and Andrea Johnson. Their interview process painted an alarming picture of interference and factionalism which led to paralysis in some structures and instability in the organisation as a whole. There are indications Ramaphosa preferred a female NDPP. Front-runners include Johnson and Batohi. Batohi, a former DPP in KwaZulu-Natal and senior legal adviser at the International Criminal Court, in her interview, likened taking up the NDPP position to “jumping into a shark tank”. Johnson, a firebrand prosecutor and deputy director of public prosecutions in Pretoria, in her interview, said she believed there was political interference in state capture cases at the NPA.
She also described the task as an arduous one, saying even the pope would struggle in the post. –