Several members of parliament launched a scathing attack at National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Adv Shamila Batohi over the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) poor handling of the rape case against Nigerian televangelist pastor Timothy Omotoso.
Some members of parliament’s portfolio committee on Justice and Constitutional Development expressed concern. They told Batohi that the NPA failed to produce quality prosecution for the complainants in the Omotoso case and this led to his acquittal. His two co-accused were also acquitted with him on charges of rape, sexual assault and human trafficking.
NPA appeared before committee
On Friday, officials from the NPA, led by Batohi, appeared before the portfolio committee in order to make a presentation regarding Omotoso’s acquittal.
DA’s Adv Glynnis Breytenbach fired the first salvo. She said the prosecutors who were assigned to the Omotoso case “were not worth their salt” and handled the case “poorly” and “badly”.
Breytenbach urged Batohi to tell the committee how the NPA bungled the Omotoso case. Also how they are going to fix the NPA’s loss of the case.
MK Party’s Sibonelo Nomvalo said Batohi’s office should have detected much earlier that there was a problem with the Omotoso prosecution team. This is because they were unable to raise objections during the trial when they were supposed to.
“The NDPP should vacate her office and resign with immediate effect. You [Batohi] should have handled this matter better. The NDPP’s presentation does not give us a sequential process of how the prosecution of the Omotoso case went wrong,” said Nomvalo.
Bad for rape victims
EFF’s Nqobile Mhlongo made reference to victims of rape. He told Batohi that victims of rape are now going to be discouraged from opening cases against perpetrators in future. And this is because of Omotoso’s acquittal.
“The NPA should hang its head in shame for failing the victims in the Timothy Omotoso case. In the judgement, the judge said the prosecutors were unethical and incompetent. When the lawyers of the prosecution are incompetent, it leaves the victims vulnerable,” said Mhlongo.
Meanwhile, the NPA said it will appeal the court judgement to acquit Omotoso on a previous case.
NPA national spokesperson Adv Mthunzi Mhaga explained the move. He said the decision to appeal the acquittal judgment follows a thorough consideration of the matter by an NPA. The NPA appointed an internal team of experienced prosecutors and a legal opinion from senior counsel.
“The NPA’s director of public prosecutions in the Eastern Cape, Mr Barry Madolo, has decided to appeal the judgement of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court in Gqeberha, delivered by Judge Irma Schoeman on 02 April 2025, relating to the case against Timothy Omotoso and two others.
Complexity of the matter
“The decision could not be rushed due to the complexity of the matter. This as well as the voluminous transcript that needed to be interrogated,” said Mhaga.
He said the NPA takes the view that there are reasonable prospects of a successful appeal. This is despite the complexities of the legal process.
“A convicted person may appeal a conviction on both facts and the law. However, the state can only appeal an acquittal judgement on a question of law (as opposed to facts) in terms of Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA). The first step in this process is to request that the judge clarify factual findings.
“The relevant papers in this regard were filed with the Registrar of the High Court in Gqeberha. They were filed on Monday, 12 May 2025.
Registrar of the High Court
“Once a clarification of the factual findings is received from the judge, the NPA’s legal team will finalise the papers on the reservation of questions of law. It will also file this application with the Registrar of the High Court,” said Mhaga.
“Even though Section 319 of the CPA does not prescribe the timeframe for the filing of such papers, we undertake to file the application within a reasonable period to avoid any
undue delay,” added Mhaga.
Omotoso was acquitted on all charges in April. He had been accused of luring female congregants to his church and forcing them into sexual acts. The Nigerian televangelist was also accused of restricting their freedom to leave.
His co-accused, senior church members Lusanda Solani and Zikiswa Sitho, were also acquitted.
