The National Director for Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shamila Batohi, says the time for corruption and impunity in municipalities is \u201cno longer a given or a reality\u201d, with many notable cases to be enrolled against alleged corrupt officials and their corruptors.<\/p>\n
The head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was speaking during the NPA\u2019s presentation to the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been steady progress being made by the NPA and its partners, in particular with regard to municipal matters. The challenge of resources was always an issue but we have vigorously capacitated in order to be able to deal with this. There’s been a lot of work that has been done in this space. The NPA now has a full leadership team, including permanent appointments in the regions,\u201d Batohi said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
She said despite progress, too many municipalities still lack the systems to prevent corruption at the first instance and the volume of investigations and prosecutions of municipal corruption is a reflection of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere we are right now is because of the complete failure on the part of municipalities to do their work properly and ensure that there are systems and processes in place that do not allow for corruption to take place. Our constrained resources are really being stretched to the limit because of the lack of systems and controls in the municipalities to deal with these issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur national anti-corruption strategy deals specifically with the proactive part of it because if things are done properly upstream, then law enforcement will not be burdened with this downstream,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Challenges<\/p>\n
Batohi told the committee that the NPA is facing several internal and external challenges in its bid to root out and prosecute corrupt individuals.<\/p>\n
These include a shortage of skills and staff \u2013 which she said is receiving attention \u2013 and the \u201cdisappearance\u201d of crucial proof in municipalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge responsibility on those in charge of municipalities now to work very closely with law enforcement to ensure that we\u2019re able to get the evidence that we need to bring these cases to court.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the challenges\u2026 is of evidence disappearing within the municipalities. That is a serious concern and there should be systems and processes put in place to ensure that evidence in the municipalities is properly protected. That is, at the end of the day, something that will determine the success of cases,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The head of the NPA said the high number of municipal-specific matters is draining both financial and human resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt costs us a lot of money. In addition to the money that has been lost because of the failure of municipalities, it\u2019s costing the country even more money now to hold people accountable, as well as in terms of asset recovery, to try to bring back the stolen money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers are increasing and\u2026 sentences of direct imprisonment are being handed down to the accused…. [From] asset recovery\u2026 there have been millions of rands that have been recovered. But of course, there\u2019s still a lot more work that needs to happen in this space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Batohi said the NPA is working closely with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) \u2013 known as The Hawks \u2013 to ensure that cases move quickly from the investigation stage to prosecution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recently had a three-day workshop with the DPCI and members of the NPA looking at how we collectively organise ourselves to focus on high level corruption. Many municipalities will also be involved in that space, so there is a lot that\u2019s been put in place to ensure very close collaboration between the DPCI and the NPA to ensure that cases move more swiftly through the system,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: South African Government News Agency<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Director for Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shamila Batohi, says the time for corruption and impunity in municipalities is \u201cno longer a given or a reality\u201d, with many notable cases to be enrolled against alleged corrupt officials and their …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n