National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi has told the Nkabinde Inquiry that a panel she appointed to review racketeering authorisations in the KwaZulu-Natal “Cato Manor” matter found those authorisations to be invalid.
She said she acted on the panel’s recommendations only after satisfying herself that their work was thorough and reliable.
Under questioning from evidence leader Advocate David Mahlomanyane, Batohi explained that the internal memorandum before the inquiry had been compiled by a panel she appointed soon after taking office in 2019.
The panel was chaired by Advocate Rodney de Kock, Advocate Ivy Thenga, Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shareen Riley, and Advocate Elijah Mamabolo. Batohi said each member was chosen for their seniority and expertise in organised crime and racketeering, noting that Mamabolo had served on the NPA’s racketeering desk and was included specifically because of “his expertise in the racketeering matters.”
She confirmed that the prior team of prosecutors assembled to deal with litigation brought by former KZN Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysen had been disbanded once she assumed office, stating that those prosecutors had been returned to their respective provincial offices.
Batohi summarised the findings of the panel, saying it concluded that the racketeering authorisations issued by former acting NDPP Nomgcobo Jiba and later by former NDPP Shaun Abrahams were invalid.
The panel further recommended that the racketeering charges against all accused persons be withdrawn.
Asked whether she implemented these recommendations, Batohi said she did. She withdrew the NPA’s opposition to Booysen’s review application, withdrew the authorisations themselves, and wrote to the acting DPP in KwaZulu-Natal, Advocate Elaine Zungu, instructing her to reassess the remaining dockets and take a prosecutorial decision on each.
In that letter, Batohi informed Zungu that the panel had found “insufficient evidence against General Booysen in respect of other charges.”
When Mahlomanyane asked why she singled Booysen out, she said that she was “not sure,” but thought it “may have been because he had brought the review application.”
Batohi said she was satisfied that she could rely on the panel’s recommendations, explaining that the report and its supporting documents, combined with her confidence in “the ability and expertise of the panel,” assured her that the recommendations were sound.
She stated that the KwaZulu-Natal DPP later declined to prosecute in all but one matter, and that the sole case that went to trial resulted in an acquittal.
Turning to allegations against Johannesburg DPP Andrew Chauke, Batohi said the complaint against him was that he “assumed a de facto role of the DPP in the prosecution of alleged crimes committed in KwaZulu-Natal over which he had no jurisdiction,” thereby undermining the authority of the acting DPPs in that province.
She said Chauke had settled the affidavit of Advocate Jiba in related litigation, and that its allegations “were found to be false,” making him “party to these false allegations.”
Although Chauke later described himself in a submission to the Zondo Commission as merely a “team coordinator,” Batohi told the inquiry that the evidence would show he had instead acted as “the de facto DPP in this matter, without the legal authority.”
She added that the documentation demonstrated he, rather than the KwaZulu-Natal DPP, had effectively taken charge of the prosecution team assembled to pursue the racketeering case against members of the Cato Manor unit.
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