NPA makes play for independent role
NPA bosses want the agency to be moved from under the umbrella of the Justice Department so it can operate more like a Chapter Nine institution, like the Public Protector or the Auditor-General, to ensure its independence, says a Business Day report.
While the Constitution does explicitly provide for an independent prosecuting authority, this was brought into question during a decade when it was seen to be politically abused.
The issue of separating the NPA from the Justice Department was raised by NDPP Shamila Batohi when the authority addressed the National Assembly’s Justice Committee this month. Explaining the NPA request, spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said it was known the authority did not ‘escape the tentacles of state capture’ notwithstanding the constitutional, legislative and other guarantees of prosecutorial independence both institutionally and functionally’.
‘Clearly, these have not prevented the independence of the NPA from being compromised,’ he said.
Ngwema said the NPA was a creature of the Constitution and was neither a part of the executive or of the legislative arms of the state.
It falls under the Department of Justice, which controls the budget the authority receives, while its accounting officer is the department’s DG. It was ‘critical therefore to ensure its independence, (and that) it is financially and administratively independent’, he said.
It was inconsistent with the notion of independence if the NPA’s budgetary process was subject to the control of the executive or the Justice Department, while staffing appointments of the NPA were also subject to the approval of the department and the Minister, he said, adding: ‘Independence must mean no undue influence or pressure to the NPA.’
The NPA was engaging all relevant role players, including the Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and the department, he told Business Day. ‘The independence should not just be around prosecutorial decisions, but the institution should have its own accounting officer and report directly to Parliament as the Constitution envisaged,’ Ngwema said.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
