DA proposes anti-corruption commission amid NPA criticism on botched cases
Our_DA / Twitter
The DA has proposed an independent anti-corruption commission and constitutional reforms to strengthen the NPA.
NPA head Shamila Batohi admitted setbacks in Timothy Omotoso and the Gupta brothers' extradition cases but defended the progress, blaming underfunding.
Batohi insists the NPA is recovering from state capture's damage.
The DA has called for sweeping reforms to the country's criminal justice system, including the establishment of an independent anti-corruption commission. The party accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of systemic failures in the handling of high-profile corruption cases.
Briefing the media on Friday, DA MPs Glynnis Breytenbach, Damien Klopper and Nicholas Gotsell outlined concerns over the NPA's inability to secure convictions in state capture cases. They cited recent blunders such as the botched extradition from the US of Moroadi Cholota, the ex-personal assistant of former Free State premier Ace Magashule.
'Monotonous' failures
Breytenbach criticised the NPA for 'failing to prosecute with any kind of conviction', pointing to procedural errors in high-stakes cases. She highlighted the Cholota matter, where the Free State director of public prosecutions, rather than the justice minister, incorrectly applied for her extradition, a misstep that derailed the case.
On Tuesday, the Bloemfontein High Court overturned Cholota's extradition from the US to face corruption charges in the ongoing R250 million Free State asbestos corruption case involving her former boss Magashule, businessperson Edwin Sodi and others. The court upheld a special plea Cholota raised on the NPA's decision to haul her back to SA. Cholota will no longer appear as a co-accused in the case.
These mistakes keep happening with monotonous regularity.
Glynnis Breytenbach
Breytenbach added that not a single politically connected individual had been imprisoned for state capture. She cited other failures, including the Thales corruption case and the withdrawal of charges in the Phala Phala matter due to procedural errors.
Klopper expanded on these concerns, referencing the high-profile case of Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso, in which the NPA's mishandling led to a 'disastrous acquittal'. He also noted the DA's recent private prosecution of a common assault case after the NPA declined to pursue it, questioning the institution's capacity to handle even basic prosecutions. Omotoso was acquitted last month and later deported to Nigeria.
Calls for structural reform
The DA proposed three key interventions:
An anti-corruption commission – A chapter 9 body independent of executive control, with its budget determined by National Treasury rather than the justice minister
Strengthening NPA independence – Constitutional amendments to remove the president's sole power to appoint and dismiss the National Director of Public Prosecutions
Capacitating the NPA – Urgent budget increases to fill vacancies and attract skilled prosecutors, alongside performance audits by the Auditor-General.
Gotsell added that a 'watching brief' programme, piloted in the Western Cape, could improve the coordination between the NPA, the SA Police Service and the victims of crime. He also suggested employing final-year law students to assist the prosecutors with administrative tasks.
Batohi defends NPA's record
Meanwhile, NPA head Shamila Batohi, speaking on SABC News earlier in the day, acknowledged the setbacks but denied a crisis within the institution.
Batohi admitted that the Omotoso case was 'devastating' but said the NPA was appealing the court judgment and it was also investigating prosecutors' conduct.
On state capture, Batohi defended the NPA's progress in the cases, noting that the Investigating Directorate had enrolled 33 cases. However, she conceded that there were challenges, including underfunding and salary disparities that were driving skilled prosecutors to other agencies, and 'internal chaos' caused by some staff allegedly undermining the NPA's mission.
There has been no political interference during my tenure,
Shamila Batohi
She admitted she could not guarantee that individual prosecutors were not influenced. She also expressed frustration over the delays in extraditing the Gupta brothers, blaming the United Arab Emirates (UAE) court's refusal and pledging to reapply with additional evidence. In 2023, the UAE dismissed SA's request to extradite the Guptas, and government's attempts have yielded no fruit since then.
With her term ending in January next year, Batohi vowed to intensify efforts in the remaining months of her contract.
The DA, however, remained sceptical, arguing that only bold reforms, not 'slapdash legislation', could restore public trust in the NPA.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News24
3 hours ago
- News24
‘Wonderful' and ‘loved by all' - 65-year-old woman reported kidnapped in Gqeberha
Andre Snyman eblockwatch/Facebook Lindsay Knowlden, 65, was reported as kidnapped on Saturday. She and her husband were apparently accosted outside a market in Markman. Police said an investigation was under way. A desperate search for a 65-year-old Gqeberha woman, described as 'wonderful' and 'loved by all', was underway on Saturday, after she was reported kidnapped. Atlas Security was at the scene at the Nelson Mandela Bay Fresh Produce Market in Markman, north of the city, early on Saturday morning. According to information provided to the private security company, Lindsay Knowlden and her husband were accosted by armed men in the underground parking lot after arriving for work. He was assaulted with a firearm and suffered a laceration to his eye, while she was bundled into a silver Polo and then driven away. The couple's son, Gregory Knowlden, was overcome with emotion on Saturday afternoon. 'She's a wonderful, friendly, genuinely caring person. Loved by all,' he said of his mother. He explained that his father was an agent at the market, and that his mother worked for him. 'They were both there to go to work,' he said. Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said an investigation was 'actively underway'. He said no ransom demand had been received as of yet and appealed to the public 'for any information related to this incident'. It comes on the back of a spate of kidnappings for ransom in recent months, with the Eastern Cape an apparent hotspot. Last week, an EFF councillor, Kholeka Mpupha, appeared in the Dimbaza Magistrate's Court in connection with the abduction of a 42-year-old hardware outlet owner.
News24
5 hours ago
- News24
Court orders dissolution of Ngwathe Municipality amid service delivery collapse
The Free State High Court has ordered the dissolution of the Ngwathe Local Municipality, citing gross failures in fulfilling its constitutional, legislative and regulatory responsibilities toward residents in towns such as Parys, Heilbron, Koppies and Vredefort, among others. The ruling follows a case brought by AfriForum, supported by the Save Ngwathe community group. The parties successfully acquired an interdict compelling the Free State provincial government to immediately intervene in the municipality's affairs. Ngwathe becomes the second municipality in the Free State to be placed under administration. Last month, Matjhabeng Local Municipality was placed under administration following the province's MEC for Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements, Saki Mokoena, finally invoking Section 139 of the Constitution, which outlines the process for provincial intervention in municipalities unable to fulfill its executive obligations. READ | Matjhabeng Municipality finally under administration as province moves to address governance collapse Mokoena's actions followed a Bloemfontein High Court judgment, handed down on 23 October 2024, which found financial mismanagement, collapsing infrastructure and poor service delivery. Ngwathe residents allegedly suffered for years According to court papers which AfriForum submitted, pertaining to Ngwathe, the lobby group said residents had suffered for years under dire conditions - including persistent water shortages, raw sewage flowing in the streets, crumbling infrastructure and widespread financial mismanagement. The municipality owes more than R1 billion to Eskom and Rand Water. In delivering judgment on Friday, Judge Johannes Daffue described the municipality and its council as 'dysfunctional' and criticised the provincial government for its inaction. He said the case warranted judicial oversight, calling it a 'suitable case where the court should play the role of a watchdog'. The court order instructed Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae and her executive council to: Dissolve the municipal council and appoint an administrator; Develop and implement a recovery plan to restore service delivery and ensure financial stability; Approve a temporary budget and revenue measures to support the recovery plan; and Submit written progress reports to the court every three months under oath. The municipality and eight other respondents, including the premier, were also ordered to pay AfriForum's legal costs. The judgment comes after a series of public protests in 2024, sparked by water cuts, potholes as well as a catastrophic 11% Blue Drop water quality score. The crisis worsened when Free State's Provincial Treasury rejected Ngwathe's R2.099 billion draft budget for 2025/26, citing a falsified surplus based on an unrealistic 100% collection rate. AfriForum's Alta Pretorius called the ruling a 'massive victory' for long-suffering residents. Pretorius said: This not only brings justice, but legal grounds for real intervention. The government can no longer look away. The DA's Carina Serfontein welcomed the judgment, saying it confirmed what residents had known for years. 'We will closely track the premier's progress reports and take further action, if necessary,' she said. The mayor of Ngwathe, Victoria De-Beer Mthombeni, acknowledged the ruling, stating: 'The executive mayor respects the judgment of the Bloemfontein High Court and is studying the judgment in detail and will communicate in due course on the processes going forward.'
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
ICE is arresting more non-criminals than ever as Trump pushes for more enforcement
Donald Trump's deportation blitz began as soon as his second presidency did, with billions diverted into mass raids and Trump declaring: 'We're getting the bad, hard criminals out' — but that rhetoric doesn't quite match the data. The number of people without a criminal record being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and held in detention has jumped 800 percent since January, as officials face pressure to boost numbers, according to reports. This enforcement drive has resulted in 51,302 people being imprisoned in ICE centers as of the start of June; marking the first time that detention centers held over 50,000 immigrants at once. Less than one in three (30 percent) of these detainees are convicted criminals, with the remainder pending criminal charges or arrested for non-criminal immigration offenses, such as overstaying a visa or unauthorized entry to the the country. The latest data is from June 1, published by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Since January, when the Trump administration entered office, ICE has not published clear and official figures on arrests or deportations. People held in immigration detention are either arrested by Customs and Border Protection, either at the US border or within 100 miles, or by ICE. But among detained immigrants who have been arrested by ICE and not CBP, the number of non-criminal arrests has shot up. Before the Trump administration entered office in mid-January, the proportion of non-criminal detainees arrested by ICE (meaning people without a criminal conviction or pending charges) was just 6 percent of all ICE arrests, 850 people. This was largely in line with figures over Joe Biden's presidency, where non-criminal ICE arrests rarely made up more than 10 percent of detainees. Yet since President Trump's inauguration on January 20, this figure has soared, with 7,781 detainees arrested by ICE without a criminal history or pending charges. This makes up one in four (23 percent) of all detained immigrants arrested by ICE; an increase of over 800 percent, and the highest levels recorded since at least 2019, as far as records go back. At the same time, just four in ten detainees who had been arrested by ICE were convicted criminals, latest data shows; the lowest level recorded, and a 20 percent drop proportionally from January. This substantial shift in non-criminal immigration arrests comes as enforcement officials increasingly conduct raids at workplaces, a reversal of the Biden-era ban. Meanwhile, ICE is facing ongoing pressure from the government to boost numbers; with Homeland Security secretary Kirsti Noem reportedly ordering targets of 3,000 arrests a day. And just this week, Trump demanded ICE "expand efforts to detain and deport illegal Aliens' in Democratic-run cities, and reversed an order to protect farmworkers from raids just days earlier. 'The American People want our Cities, Schools, and Communities to be SAFE and FREE from Illegal Alien Crime, Conflict, and Chaos,' he wrote in a lengthy tirade on Truth Social. The lack of transparency over ICE arrests and other statistics under the Trump administration has also made it harder to identify trends in immigration enforcement. But internal ICE documents seen by CNN suggest that immigration enforcement has had little focus on violent criminals. Just one in ten ICE detainees from October to May have been convicted of serious crimes — including murder, rape, assault or robbery, according to CNN. Even among all detainees with a criminal conviction, who make up around a third of the 185,000 ICE detainees over this period, the vast majority, around 75 percent, are for non-serious crimes. These non-serious crimes include traffic and other offenses, but are included under an umbrella label when ICE refers to targeting immigrants with a criminal conviction. The Trump administration's anti-immigrant rhetoric has centered around criminal convictions and gang affiliations, not least with the unprecedented deportation of around 245 Venezuelans to El Salvador over alleged links to the Tren de Aragua gang. The increasing number of non-criminals being detained by ICE, in addition to the low prioritization for serious crimes (just 9 percent of all detainees), is a concern amid the wider push to ramp up immigration enforcement at all costs. In fact, though deportation has been front-and-center of the Trump agenda, the numbers are not skyrocketing on the surface; and border patrol deportations are going down, since fewer migrants are attempting to cross into the US. While the latter should be a positive sign for the Trump administration, it may make officials desperate to find higher deportation numbers to report – regardless of immigrants' criminal histories. 'This push on numbers — exclusive of whether or not the job is being done right — is very concerning,' said Sarah Saldaña, former ICE director under Obama, told the New York Times. 'You're going to have people who are being pushed to the limit, who in a rush may not get things right, including information on a person's status.'
