Shamila Batohi’s been in the job for 6 years. Here’s how many high-profile convictions she’s secured

February marks six years since advocate Shamila Batohi was appointed the national director of public prosecutions but not a single high-profile politician has been convicted of state capture or corruption charges under her tenure.

Batohi was appointed in February 2019 on a 10-year contract or until she reaches the retirement age of 65 in 2026 and became the first woman to lead the national prosecuting authority (NPA).

Before this she served as an advisor to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2009 to 2019.

Batohi failed to enforce the law effectively

Paul Hoffman, director of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa, said Batohi started with the best intentions but ultimately failed to enforce the law effectively.

“Legally, if she wanted to tackle corruption effectively, she needed to point out to the government that an anti-corruption body independent of executive control is required.

“She has failed to do that. She has been trying to make bricks without straw,” he said.

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“As the leader of the NPA, it was her responsibility to clarify to politicians what the law requires and to explain that the current structures do not meet those requirements. If she failed to secure the necessary reforms, she should have resigned long ago.”

He said she will be remembered as the head of the prosecution service who did not insist on compliance with the law and enforcement of the rules.

“It is not her role to sit there, acting as though she has a begging bowl and hoping for scraps. She has a powerful Constitutional Court judgment in her favour, as well as South Africa’s treaty obligations at African Union, SADC and OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] levels. These could have supported her in leading a campaign for the establishment of a proper anti-corruption body. But she never did.

Investigating Directorate merely window dressing

“Instead, she tried to present the Investigating Directorate (ID), created by presidential proclamation and later the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, as steps in the right direction. In reality, they are merely window dressing and do little to combat serious corruption.”

Hoffman added that the NPA as part of the department of justice was not independent.

“It is merely a programme within the department, meaning it does not meet the legal requirements for an independent anti-corruption body. As long as anti-corruption machinery remains under executive control, successfully prosecuting high-profile politicians will not be possible.”

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Former prosecutor advocate Glynnis Breytenbach highlighted similar concerns, warning that Batohi’s tenure was running out with little to show in terms of convictions.

“Time is definitely against her. We must start planning now for the new national director. Her first job was to produce convictions and she hasn’t done that. At the moment, she’ll be remembered for not securing any state capture prosecutions.”

Breytenbach acknowledged the massive task, but said Batohi had failed to delegate effectively.

NPA decayed by state capture

“The NPA was severely damaged during the state capture years. That kind of institutional decay takes longer than six years to fix.

“I think she has done a lot of work in trying to rebuild the NPA and restoring some sort of ethical and moral compass. But at the end of the day, her primary job was to secure convictions and she hasn’t done that.”

She also pointed out that serious resource constraints were hindering the NPA’s ability to prosecute high-profile cases.

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“The NPA has always lacked financial resources. Their budget is constantly being cut and they never receive sufficient funding to cover their operational needs. There is no real political will in government to fight corruption.

“We ended up with an NPA that is starved of both financial and human resources, making it impossible to take on high-profile prosecutions. We must remember that this was all by design – it was meant to weaken the institution.”

Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), said Batohi was a significant improvement over her predecessor, Shaun Abrahams, who was part of the state capture machinery. However, he noted that more should have been done by now.

Improvement over Shaun Abrahams

“She got the ball rolling again, but she inherited a broken and compromised institution, with people inside the system still obstructing progress,” he said.

“There’s a shortage of the necessary skills and resources in the NPA and there is some political interference.

“More significantly, there is a clear lack of political will to properly fund and support the NPA.”

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Duvenage said Batohi and the NPA must urgently refocus their efforts on securing arrests and convictions.

“They need to ensure cases are thoroughly prepared to avoid more embarrassing court dismissals. It must prioritise finalising cases and securing convictions.”