SA has several public institutions that, against all the odds, are holding fast to their constitutional mandate and providing the checks and balances preventing the state from being wholly captured. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is clearly not one of those institutions. And National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams’ capitulation on the Pravin Gordhan matter this week has done the NPA’s shredded credibility even further damage. Of course, Abrahams’ decision to withdraw the fraud charges against the finance minister is welcome. Markets, which had been hammered in October when Abrahams announced his intention to charge Gordhan, were suitably cheered, with the rand and bonds strengthening on the news. The business people and civil society organisations who were going to march with Gordhan to the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court where the case was due to be heard on Wednesday will now instead stage an assembly, with some marching in celebration. And on the upside, the...
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