Shamila Batohi leaves behind a divided legacy, with search for NPA successor yet to start

When Shamila Batohi retires in January 2026, it will be the first time since the establishment of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in 1998 that a National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) has completed a term in office without being controversially removed or resigning.

This, say experts, is partly testament to the transparent appointment process Batohi underwent in 2018.

Batohi was appointed, as required by the Constitution in section 179(1)(a), by the President, in February 2019, following the first-ever public interviews for the position in November 2018. The NDPP has a non-renewable 10-year term in office, according to section 12 of the NPA Act, which sets an age limit of 65.

This means Batohi must leave office on 27 January 2026 — when she turns 65 — after only seven years in office.

Read more: NPA’s To-Do-List signals testing times ahead for Shamila Batohi

Last week, News24’s Karyn Maughan was the first to report that President Cyril Ramaphosa has yet to begin the process of finding a replacement for Batohi. However, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, told the publication that the President would run a transparent selection process led by an independent panel that will make recommendations to him — replicating the process that resulted in Batohi’s appointment in 2018.

Magwenya confirmed this to Daily Maverick on Sunday, 7 September.

Dr Jean Redpath, a senior researcher at the Dullah Omar Institute’s Africa Criminal Justice Reform programme, said she believed the selection procedure Ramaphosa followed in 2018 was “a reasonably good process”.

“I agree that the process gave it [Batohi’s appointment] a lot of legitimacy. There [were] parts of the process that weren’t entirely clear to me, like on what basis did [the panel] vet and how did it come up with a shortlist? That was never particularly transparent,” she said.

In an August report, “Options for Reform: Appointing the National Director of Public Prosecutions in South Africa”, Redpath noted that while the process adopted in 2018 was an improvement on previous appointments, which happened behind closed doors, “there is no doubt that the 2018 model can be improved upon.

“It would be preferable to have this legislated, to prevent a future President from designing a process to achieve a predetermined outcome. In particular, a more open and transparent nomination process is probably preferred, rather than funnelling nominations through only seven institutions, of which three did not have any official status and arguably had historical links to the [then] governing party [the ANC],” the report reads.

Redpath told Daily Maverick Batohi was “probably the best choice” of the candidates interviewed at the time.

“She brought a great deal of stability [to the role]. She identified and shifted out the overtly problematic people — the ones that she could,” she said.

‘Mixed bag’ 

Politicians who have criticised Batohi have been frustrated mainly by the lack of convictions in State Capture cases.

In June 2025, Batohi faced fresh calls to resign after the NPA was accused of bungling the extradition of Moroadi Cholota, the former personal assistant of corruption-accused former Free State premier Ace Magashule. The Free State Division of the High Court in Bloemfontein ruled that Cholota’s extradition from the US was unlawful and unconstitutional on the grounds that the extradition had been requested by the NPA rather than Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, Daily Maverick reported.

The mishandling of Cholota’s extradition was the latest in a series of NPA failures in prosecuting high-profile State Capture cases.

Other mishaps include its failure to secure a conviction of pastor Timothy Omotoso and the failed extradition of the Gupta brothers in April 2023. (The NPA has since said it will submit another application to have the fugitive brothers extradited to SA).

Read more: ‘Respiratory failure’ and illness in India — how wanted Gupta brothers have skirted SA enforcement

The DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach told Daily Maverick she believed Batohi “should’ve been more aggressive”.

“I have a long-standing relationship with Shamila. I’ve known her for 20 years; I don’t believe that she’s corrupt. But she hasn’t been spectacularly successful,” said Breytenbach.

“Am I disappointed? Yes, I am. But I acknowledge immediately that it’s a massive job, it’s a much bigger job than just one woman, and the NPA was seriously, seriously dysfunctional when she took it over.

“Has she made improvements? She certainly has. Has she done a lot of work to restructure and rebuild the organisation? Yes, she has. But, in my view, she had one job and that was to get a conviction for a State Capture case, and she hasn’t done that in six years.”

The UDM’s acting secretary-general, Zandile Phiri, said the party’s verdict on Batohi was “mixed”.

‘Prosecuting is not a popularity contest. It’s a job that you are called upon every day to do the right thing. Whether that’s popular or not is completely irrelevant.’   

“Her tenure showed some important gains. Governance systems were tightened, specialist units revived, and a culture of accountability began to take shape. However, the expectations on her shoulders were immense, and many South Africans ultimately felt underwhelmed by the pace and visibility of prosecutions, particularly against high-profile figures implicated in corruption,” said Phiri.

“She embodied integrity and brought credibility to the institution, but her impact was constrained by structural weaknesses, political interference and limited capacity. The ‘big fish’ prosecutions that many South Africans anticipated did not materialise at the scale required to restore confidence.”

Read more: NPA’s series of legal bungles undermines public confidence in SA’s justice system

Heloïse Denner of the FF Plus said that both “progress and challenges” had marked Batohi’s tenure as NDPP.

“While she began addressing issues of State Capture and political interference within the NPA, her leadership has also seen some notable setbacks, such as the failed Omotoso prosecution. Overall, her time at the helm reflects mixed results in a complex institutional environment,” she said.

Read more: ‘I will not step down,’ NPA head Shamila Batohi tells MPs

In response to questions from Daily Maverick, Batohi’s spokesperson, Bulelwa Makeke, said Batohi had “stabilised the NPA and built a solid foundation for a fit-for-purpose [and] modern” prosecuting authority.

“When the NDPP rejoined the NPA in 2019, there were huge challenges that needed to be addressed for the NPA to turn the corner and return to its former glory… It took almost 10 years of State Capture and deliberate internal attacks against the criminal justice system to undermine it. It was always going to take more than five (Covid-affected) years to rebuild it,” said Makeke.

She said the NPA’s achievements included growing its ranks by more than 20%, building specialised skills and increasing performance.

“The NPA has sustained the performance improvement trajectory over the past five years, from an overall 50% in 2020/21, [and] 71% in 2021/22, up to 86% against set targets for the 2024/25 performance cycle,” she said.

“In the past five years, a total of 1,692 persons were convicted for corruption-related crimes, while 1,590 convictions were achieved in complex commercial crime offences.”

Makeke said that Breytenbach’s comment about the NDPP having just one job and leaving it undone was “unfair and unrealistic, although the sentiment is understood and appreciated, because of the devastation that the ‘State Capture project’ caused to the economy of the country, to the rule of law and perpetrated against all the citizens of the country”.

However, she added, “The matters for which the NPA received extensive public criticism are only a handful, against the hundreds of thousands of cases prosecuted annually.”

A new NDPP

So, who will fill Batohi’s shoes?

The requirements for an NDPP are minimal when compared with the likes of the Public Protector and Auditor-General, Daily Maverick has reported.

In the case of the NDPP, it is required only that the person be fit and proper and “possess legal qualifications that would entitle him or her to practise in all courts” in the country. According to a Daily Maverick report, there is no requirement for specialist knowledge or number of years of experience.

Redpath believed that former Investigating Directorate (ID) head Hermione Cronje was a potential candidate to replace Batohi, saying she had integrity and the legal and other skills needed for the role.

“I don’t think she necessarily wants the job,” said Redpath. “But, she has the kind of strong anti-corruption and no-nonsense attitude [and approach].”

Cronje quit the ID in November 2021, just 2½ years after she was appointed to the position.

Other potential candidates, said Redpath, included the Director of Public Prosecutions in North West, Matodzi Rachel Makhari-Sekhaolelo, who was a candidate for NDPP in 2018, and the current ID head, Andrea Johnson, who was also a candidate in 2018.

“But she [Johnson] is quite young [44], and that might weaken the Investigating Directorate if she were to then be moved out of there,” said Redpath.

Redpath’s report states: “Indeed, it seems likely that from within the NPA, Deputy National Directors of the NPA, any of the Special Directors, as well as the DDPs, would be up for consideration for the 2026 position, their age permitting. However, in 2018, the final list included only two preferred candidates from within the NPA. It may still be the case that an outside candidate may be considered necessary, despite the partial recovery of the NPA.” 

Redpath told Daily Maverick she still believed that it was necessary to have a candidate from outside the NPA.

“But to have someone with the kind of criminal [and] legal experience makes that very tricky,” she added.

‘Unshakeable honesty and integrity’

Political parties largely agree that honesty and integrity are the foremost qualities needed in an NDPP.

“The most important characteristic for an NDPP must be absolutely unshakeable honesty and integrity,” said Breytenbach.

“Then, they must be prepared to do the right thing — which is always going to be the hardest thing — in the face of vitriolic criticism. So they need to have a seriously thick skin. They need to have a lot of experience, both in law — more particularly in criminal litigation — and in life. It’s a big job, and you need to be able to manage a team of people who have very similar characteristics to your own, which is not easy.

“Prosecuting is not a popularity contest. It’s a job that you are called upon every day to do the right thing. Whether that’s popular or not is completely irrelevant.”

Read more: South Africa’s next prosecution head — how to ensure a sound appointment

The PA’s Steve Motale told Daily Maverick that an NDPP needed a combination of professional experience, integrity and leadership skills to effectively lead the NPA.

“Key qualities should include legal expertise and experience, independence and impartiality, integrity and ethical standards, leadership and management skills, strategic vision, resilience and courage, and great communication skills. These characteristics are essential for restoring the NPA’s credibility, especially given its history of instability,” said Motale.

ActionSA’s parliamentary leader, Athol Trollip, said the party believed that the next NDPP should be an “external candidate who is untainted, highly respected in the legal fraternity and committed to restoring the institution’s integrity”.

The party has called for Batohi’s removal as NDPP and for a parliamentary inquiry into the NPA’s “ongoing prosecutorial failures” and “political interference” within the institution.

At Daily Maverick’s The Gathering last month, Batohi admitted there had been sabotage in the NPA, but denied the organisation was in crisis.

Read more: Shamila Batohi says there has ‘definitely’ been sabotage in the NPA, but denies crisis

“ActionSA believes that the next [NDPP] must, above all, possess a clear appreciation of the prosecutorial mandate of the institution, while also directing their focus inward to confront and eradicate the rot within the NPA with an iron fist,” Trollip told Daily Maverick.

The Good party’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, suggested that appointing a senior judge as NDPP “should be seriously considered”.

“This someone should be the professional equal or better of the country’s top senior counsel. A lawyer with serious professional muscle and the highest integrity and character,” he said. DM