Being appointed NDPP is ‘jumping into a shark tank’
Shamila Batohi and Simphiwe Mlotshwa faced tough questions during interviews for the position of national director of public prosecutions on Friday
Taking up the reins to lead the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is “jumping into a shark tank”, but advocate Shamila Batohi still wants to do it. Batohi was the last of 11 candidates interviewed for the position of national director of public prosecutions by an advisory panel tasked by President Cyril Ramaphosa to provide him with a shortlist, from which SA’s new top prosecutor would be appointed. Batohi is a senior legal adviser at the International Criminal Court, where she has worked since 2009. Before that she was the director of public prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal — the first woman to hold that position. Batohi told the panel that “the NPA is in crisis at the moment. Something needs to be done. The house is on fire and you need to put the fire out”. Concern about factions in the NPA has been addressed by most of the candidates who have knowledge of the internal workings of the NPA, and who have been interviewed since Wednesday. How candidates would address that was a key ...
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