NPA’s ID to go after ‘winnable cases’ amid pressure over state capture

The new head of the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Investigating Directorate (ID) Andrea Johnson says corruption cases take “somewhat” longer than expected amid pressure to prosecute those implicated in state capture.

On Friday, Johnson gave an interview on 702 after she replaced advocate Hermione Cronje, who last year requested to vacate her office before her term ended.

The new ID boss was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa this week.

During the interview, Johnson acknowledged the pressure and challenges she is set to face in her new job, adding that her prosecution team will go for winnable cases.

“Of course we have to go after the winnable cases, but we have also have to go after the difficult cases that may not, at the outset, seem to be winnable because the nature of the corruption matters, straight off the cuff, don’t always have the kind of evidence that prosecutors would like to have to have a slam dunk case.

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“So it’s not always going to be looking at the winnable cases, but we will look at the cases and all the points you raised are absolutely crucial in making sure that we then have cases that can be won,” she said.

Johnson said that coordination and collaboration with the private sector would be needed to prosecute cases going forward.

“If we have a proper collaborative partnership within the public and private sector, I’m sure that those shortcomings that cannot be cured by the lack of a budget might then have to be dealt with,” she said.

She also indicated that the NPA would deal with the cases that the ID is unable to attend to.

“At the very least, even if the ID doesn’t deal with all the cases as it’s obvious that it cannot… those cases will be dealt with somewhere with the NPA framework,“ she added.

Zondo criticises NPA

To date, the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture has released three reports, which recommended that a number of implicated former officials face prosecution.

These individuals include former South African Airways (SAA) chair Dudu Myeni, former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe and former South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane, among others.

The commission’s chair, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, in the first report criticised the NPA’s failure to prosecute cases of corruption.

READ MORE: NPA permitted to prosecute immediately, but will it?

Zondo said the NPA’s failure to respond “adequately, or at all” to the challenges of state capture corruption “points to a fundamental failure of a sovereign state function”.

In the recommendations of the report, Zondo suggested that a new independent anti-procurement corruption agency be established.

While the NPA has since created a task force team to deal with cases related to state capture, questions are still being asked on whether the prosecuting authority has enough capacity to prosecute those implicated.