AS Shamila Batohi enters the final stretch of her tenure as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), the knives are out. The timing is telling, the tone unmistakably hostile, and the message dangerously simplistic: blame Batohi for everything. But is she the villain of the story, or its most convenient scapegoat?

There’s no denying that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has suffered high-profile failures under Batohi’s watch. The acquittal of Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso on over 30 charges of sexual assault and the recent courtroom blow to the Ace Magashule case, due to procedural issues around the extradition of his former PA, have added to public disillusionment.

These losses are symbolic, in the public’s eye, of the State’s continued failure to deliver justice in a country crying out for accountability.

But this narrative, while emotionally satisfying, is intellectually lazy. To understand the failings of the NPA means confronting a far deeper institutional rot, one that long predates Batohi and continues to fester beneath the surface.

Shamila Batohi stepped into an institution that was deliberately hollowed out during the State Capture years. The NPA was not just neglected, it was actively sabotaged. Key skills were drained, senior positions were politicised, and internal structures were rigged to favour impunity.

This wasn’t just corruption; it was counter-intelligence in motion, engineered to ensure that those in power would never face consequences.

By the time Batohi took the helm in 2019, the institution was functionally compromised. The expectation that she alone could reverse a decade of decay in five years is not just unrealistic, it borders on cruel.

Yet when Batohi speaks of “infiltration” and sabotage from within her own ranks, the reaction is to ridicule, not investigate. That should alarm us.

One has to ask: why now? Why, with just six months remaining in her tenure, is the call to replace Batohi growing louder, especially when those calls are paired with a push to “change the appointment model” for the next NDPP?

What lies beneath these headlines could be more than frustration over legal losses. It may well be an elite-driven campaign to ensure that the prosecuting authority remains fragmented, leaderless, and easily manipulated.

Batohi’s assertion that some prosecutors are actively working with criminals is explosive. If true, it would explain much about the NPA’s difficulties in successfully prosecuting powerful figures. It would also point to the continuation of a covert war within the institution, a silent battle between reformers and holdouts from the State Capture era.

Her walk-back on the word “infiltration” has been used to discredit her, but even the toned-down version, that cases are being “deliberately sabotaged”, is a shocking indictment of the institution. And yet, this revelation has been brushed aside in favour of personal attacks on Batohi’s leadership.

Why are we more comfortable questioning her credibility than investigating the systemic treachery she is pointing to?

Let us be clear: the public has every right to demand accountability, performance, and progress from the NPA. But those demands must be grounded in a recognition of the profound institutional crisis that the NPA continues to navigate.

To put it bluntly: the house is on fire, and instead of supporting the firefighter, we’re blaming her for the flames.

Batohi’s critics cite case losses as evidence of failure, but in the same breath, they ignore her warnings about prosecutors aiding suspects. They demand better results — yet they scoff at her request for greater support, resources, and protections. They want justice, but not the institutional stability required to deliver it.

Leadership, especially in the public service, is as much about what you prevent as what you achieve. It’s entirely possible that Batohi’s quiet successes, the building of new investigative directorates, the cleanup of internal hiring, and her persistent refusal to bow to political pressure have made her a threat to those who preferred a captured or pliable NPA.

If that’s true, then the campaign to discredit her is not about justice. It’s about power.

And so the question becomes: do we, as a society, want a prosecuting authority that works, or one that serves?

We can, and should, scrutinise Batohi’s record. But let’s not be so eager for a scapegoat that we ignore the system that created the crisis in the first place. The very idea of criminal infiltration within the NPA should send shockwaves through the public sphere. Instead, we yawn and demand her resignation.

It is a tragedy of democratic amnesia.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa considers whether to renew Batohi’s term or replace her, he faces a defining choice: reward the mob or confront the machine. Either way, his decision will speak volumes about South Africa’s appetite for real reform.

In the meantime, perhaps the public should ask itself a harder question: if Shamila Batohi is not the NDPP we want, are we sure she’s not the one we need?

* Adri Senekal de Wet is the editor-in-chief of Independent Media.

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