ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has led picketing outside the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in Pretoria to demand that National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) leader Shamila Batohi be removed.
The party submitted a memorandum of grievances calling for Justice Minister Mamoloko Kubayi to begin the process of removing Batohi by suspending her immediately for an investigation to follow.
Mashaba stated that the NPA is dysfunctional, through both incompetence and neglect.
Lily mine incident
He highlighted the Lily Mine incident in Mpumalanga. The bodies of three miners have been trapped underground for nine years. Mashaba said the NPA has failed the miners and their families as they are not prosecuting those responsible.
“An inquest was done that has discovered that [the mine] did not collapse because it was an accident. Mine management and the owners of that mine received two reports from mine experts warning them. They informed them and warned them about their irresponsible mining. But today we carry on as South Africans as if things are normal.
“To make matters worse, the families seeing that this mine was continuing, decided ‘You know what, let us go and retrieve this container ourselves. After our own government, the government of the ANC, said to us South Africans that the container cannot be retrieved,” said Mashaba.
He said it took him and the party members to reveal that it can be retrieved. Mashaba said they have spent at least R4-million in legal costs on this matter.
GBV
He also highlighted other cases, including those of gender-based violence (GBV) that remain unsolved.
Mashaba said instead of delivering justice, the NPA has become a refuge for the politically connected. This is where accountability is avoided and high-profile cases continue to collapse.
Among the failed prosecutions, he also cited cases involving former ANC members. The former secretary general and Free State premier Ace Magashule, Moroadi Cholota, Zizi Kodwa, and Timothy Omotoso.
Deep public disillusionment
He said Batohi was appointed in December 2018 amid hopes of turning around a troubled institution. This was after the era of state capture, but the hope has turned into deep public disillusionment.
“While acknowledging that overhauling and correcting the NPA does not begin and end with the removal of Adv. Batohi, it remains an important first step in demonstrating that continued poor performance will be met with decisive action,” said Mashaba.
Kubayi has been granted seven days to respond to the demand as per the memorandum.
