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ActionSA calls for the immediate removal of Adv Shamila Batohi as the National Director of Public Prosecutions and demands a full parliamentary inquiry into the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s ongoing prosecutorial failures and the extent to which political interference has infected its operations.

The NPA has once again exposed its deep dysfunction, either through incompetence or wilful neglect, with the latest disgrace being the collapse of the asbestos corruption case involving former Free State Premier, Ace Magashule, due to the unlawful and irregular handling of the extradition of his former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota.

This is not an isolated blunder, but part of a disturbing and entrenched pattern. The NPA has become a refuge for the politically connected, a place where accountability is avoided, justice is delayed and prosecutions collapse with shocking regularity. Under Shamila Batohi’s leadership, the NPA reels from one scandal to the next. South Africans are left wondering if these failures merely a result of incompetence, or is there a deliberate agenda to protect the corrupt?

Let us be clear that this is not just about one failed case. The pattern is undeniable. From the Phala Phala saga to the collapse of high-profile cases like Timothy Omotoso, Shepherd Bushiri and the Estina Dairy Project, the list of prosecutorial disasters grows longer by the day. Most damning is the NPA’s failure to secure the extradition of the Gupta brothers, nearly a decade after the Gupta Leaks shook the nation.

In the most recent financial year, only 6 State Capture-related prosecutions were recorded, with a target of just 10 by 2027. This is an insult to the South African people, given the R500 billion in economic damage linked to State Capture. Despite lofty promises, there have been zero convictions connected to the Gupta Leaks revelations.

ActionSA has consistently raised alarm bells, including about the President’s failure to act against the embattled Director of Public Prosecutions in Johannesburg. We remind President Cyril Ramaphosa that Section 12(6) of the NPA Act grants him the power to provisionally suspend any Director of Public Prosecutions pending an inquiry into their fitness for office. His refusal to act is not a procedural matter; it is a failure of political will.

These are the symptoms of a justice system being hollowed out under President Ramaphosa’s watch. For all his talk of fighting corruption, he remains silent as the prosecutorial system collapses and the corrupt walk free. When those tasked with enforcing the law become enablers of lawlessness, the justice system becomes complicit, not just ineffective.

In light of this crisis, ActionSA will formally write to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, to demand urgent intervention and the commencement of a process to remove Adv Shamila Batohi in terms of Section 12 of the NPA Act. South Africans deserve a National Director of Public Prosecutions who delivers justice; not excuses.

If we are serious about restoring the rule of law, then the rot at the heart of the NPA must be confronted without delay.

Issued by ActionSA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip