NPA boss gives country hope justice will be delivered to the corrupt

National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi. Picture: Bongani Shilubane/African News Agency(ANA)

National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi. Picture: Bongani Shilubane/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Jul 27, 2019

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It’s been a long six months for those of us yearning to see the corrupt change into their orange overalls.

It’s been a long, dark winter of despondency punctuated by odd explosions of shocking revelations as to how our precious national resources were plundered.

Luckily, we have a new prosecutions boss who is well aware that we have a “very small window

of opportunity” to turn things around.

Indeed, time is of the essence. The wheels of justice need to gather speed quickly and crush the corrupt before it’s too late.

As a court reporter many moons ago I used to enjoy watching Shamila Batohi, among other sharp prosecutors, in action. Watching

her deliver her speech this week boosted my hope for this beloved country.

Hope always springs eternal in the human breast. It becomes easier to be optimistic with a new broom around. But this new chief has committed herself. Batohi gave a good speech. Even the somewhat hurried delivery indicated a welcome sense of urgency rarely seen in our leaders who take their time on the podium.

“For too long corrupt politicians, government employees and business leaders have acted almost with impunity to plunder the scarce resources of our country,” she said.

But here’s a really inspirational quote: “But you can forget about all this that I say. All I want to say is judge us by our actions.”

Watch this space South Africa. Action is coming.

* Mazwi Xaba is the editor of Independent on Saturday

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