NPA's eroding credibility requires urgent action

A justice system teetering between institutional collapse and captured governance

- CLYDE N.S. RAMALAINE

ON JUNE 3, the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein ruled that the extradition of Moroadi Cholota from the US to South Africa was unlawful. This landmark judgment by Judge Loubser has not only released the State's key figure in the high-profile R255 million asbestos corruption case but also cleared the way for the prosecution of others involved.

Still, it has also exposed deep procedural and constitutional failings within South Africa's prosecutorial regime. Cholota's unlawful extradition from the US and subsequent release by the Free State High Court reveal more than just procedural oversight, they expose systemic dysfunction, a repurposing of primary objectives of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as articulated in its strategic ethos and unravels the credibility of South Africa's anti-corruption drive.

The NPA's failure to adhere to the legally mandated process in the extradition request of Cholota reveals not merely a procedural blunder, but an institutional failing. By the NPA initiating the extradition request instead of the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, as explicitly required by law, it not only invalidated its case but compromised the integrity of South Africa's justice system on the international stage.

The NPA will contend that this is not the first time it has led to extradition cases and that this is the first instance in which a case has been registered in this regard. It will furthermore argue that it is appealing the Schultz case, which constitutes a legal precedent.