Ramaphosa’s NDPP panel: Smoke and mirrors or genuine reform?

THE USUAL suspects have hailed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to establish “a panel for the selection of the next National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP)” as a testament to his commitment to openness and transparency. Nothing could be further from the truth.

- PROFESSOR SIPHO SEEPE

NATIONAL Director of Public Prosecution Shamilla Batohi with President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings on December 4, 2018. I JACQUES NAUDE African News Agency/ANA

(JACQUES NAUDE African News Agency/ANA)

The establishment of a panel is a cynical response to strident calls wanting the NDPP appointment to be done entirely by Parliament and to have “the appointment of the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to be taken off the president’s hands”. (Cosatu).

For its part, the DA has proposed an amendment to the Constitution “to ensure Parliament appoints the head of the NPA — not the president — following a transparent and rigorous vetting process”.

The current process does little to dilute the presidential prerogative.

First, the panel, chaired by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, comprising chairpersons of the South African Human Rights Commission, the Commission for Gender Equality, the Public Service Commission, the Auditor-General South Africa, bar representatives of the Black Lawyers Association and National Association of Democratic Lawyers, is largely comprised of individuals who are themselves Ramaphosa’s appointees.

The panel is arguably an echo chamber of individuals who have “bought into the ruling consensus”. Accordingly, there is nothing ideologically diverse about it. With Ramaphosa, it is always a case of smoke and mirrors.

Second, we have been here before. Advocate Shamila Batohi, the current NDPP, is herself the product of the proposed process. Her tenure has been widely described as underwhelming.

Not mincing his words, Athol Trollip, ActionSA MP, contends: “Under Batohi’s leadership, the NPA reels from one scandal to the next. South Africans are left wondering if these failures are merely a result of incompetence or if there is a deliberate agenda to protect the corrupt.”