President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the appointments of Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions and Special Directors of Public Prosecutions as part of his strategy to strengthen his fight against serious crime, including sexual and gender-based crimes and corruption.

The new Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions for Strategy, Operations and Compliance is Advocate Anton du Plessis.

Advocate Lebogang Dineo Baloyi has been appointed Special Director of Public Prosecutions for the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit.

The Special Director of Public Prosecutions for the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit is Advocate Bonnie Currie-Gamwo and Advocate Priya Biseswar is now Special Director of Public Prosecutions for the Asset Forfeiture Unit.

Ramaphosa is confident that the appointments will bolster top leadership of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to effectively deliver on its mandate to be lawyers for the people of South Africa.

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola and National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Advocate Shamila Batohi were consulted on the appointments.

“These appointments align with the President and NDPP’s commitment to building the leadership of the NPA with a diverse and representative team of world-class and trusted experts that reflects the transformation and gender empowerment imperatives of government and the legal sector in South Africa. The appointment of three internal female leaders is particularly important in this regard,” the Presidency said in a statement.

Du Plessis will be returning to the NPA and joins Advocate Ouma Rabaji-Rasethaba, Advocate Rodney de Kock and Advocate Nomvula Mokhatla as Deputy National Directors.

He is currently the Legal and Criminal Justice Coordinator of the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate in New York.

Baloyi was previously with the Directorate of Special Operations, the Scorpions, and has overseen the NPA’s Organised Crime Unit.

She has been acting Special Director of Public Prosecutions since October 2019.

Currie-Gamwo has a 22-year tenure with experience in gender-based violence and matters involving vulnerable groups, including woman, children and persons from the LGBTQI community.

Biseswar has more than 23 years’ experience and for the last 10 months she has contributed to the ongoing transformation of the Asset Forfeiture Unit as Acting Special Director of Public Prosecutions.

She has been nominated by the NPA to serve as the secretariat of the Asset Recovery Inter-Agency Network of South Africa.