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Former National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shamila Batohi.
TRC Commissioner Yasmin Sooka says the TRC Cases Inquiry should look into former NDPP Shamila Bathohi for dereliction of duty in relation to the prosecution of these cases.
This was his testimony at the commission probing efforts to stall the investigation and prosecution of apartheid-era perpetrators.
Sooka says that families of victims were initially optimistic following Batohi’s appointment in 2019 but were ultimately disappointed after the NPA adopted a decentralised policy where cases were distributed to provinces with no one ultimately taking responsibility.
“They said they’d set up this unit. Nobody. It was diffused in terms of authority. So, they were ticking boxes, but in terms of real action, nothing actually happened. So, I would probably and this is something that the commission will need to look at, while there may not have been direct political interference, I think, in this period after 2019 but you have to ask the question of dereliction of duty if you don’t proceed with the cases. So, many perpetrators died and so many family members died and yet these were cases which were ripe to take on either through a prosecution or an inquest,” says Sooka.
Meanwhile, former North West Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Sello Maema and lead prosecutor in the racketeering case against former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen, on Monday told the Nkabinde Enquiry that despite serious allegations against members of the Cato Manor unit, no prosecutions were finalised before Batohi left the NPA to take up a post at The Hague.
The charges against Booysen were withdrawn due to insufficient evidence. Batohi later went on the lead the NPA after serving as adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
Advocate Sello Maema to continue testimony in the Nkabinde Inquiry:
