Members of Parliament have not been shy to share their thoughts on the testimony of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shamila Batohi, saying that her responses have been inadequate.
Bahoti was testifying in front of Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations made by SAPS KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Member of the committee Xola Nqola, who is also the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, said that her responses were inadequate when it came to answering on the role of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption’s (IDAC) arrest of Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo.
“I’m not quite convinced with how it has been treated, both the performance of the NPA within the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), where the NDPP reveals that she has no knowledge of how the NPA contributed to the life and the work of the PKTT.
“Beyond that, whether or not it was right for intelligence information to be used as a complaint to IDAC, and how they have handled that.
“It seemed as though she was shifting (the responsibility) to those who are heading IDAC.
“From where we’re seated, we don’t think it has been adequate.”
Nqola said that they also struggled to understand Batohi’s hesitation to name a prosecutor allegedly implicated in organised crime.
“We don’t really understand, but we have to be fair to our witnesses because from where we’re seated, the NDPP does not even indicate whether the information she’s talking about is classified.
“We made a provision for her to tell us in a closed session, but I mean, if there’s already suspensions and all that, I don’t really think that it should have been a difficulty to tell Parliament who this person is. We want the name, and we are going to get the name,” Nqola said.
Nqola said that, as the chair of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, some of the issues the ad hoc committee has heard are issues he has interacted with on a frequent basis.
“I think there is a particular problem as it relates to the high-profile matters where we find the difficulties.
“The NPA are due to come and account to us on all extradition matters. We are not talking about just (Pastor Timothy) Omotoso and Cholota (Moradi Cholota), we are saying all.
“They are soon going to present an annual report to us.”
