Simon Nare
Former National Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Shamila Batohi has been granted permission to appoint lawyers of her choice at state expense to assist her with her testimony at the Nkabinde Inquiry, although it remains unclear when she will be ready to appear again.
The inquiry was told on Friday by evidence leaders that the National Prosecuting Authority’s state attorney had confirmed Batohi would now be represented by her own legal team, rather than being assisted by the NPA’s legal team, to avoid a conflict of interest.
The inquiry, chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Bess Nkabinde, is probing whether suspended South Gauteng director of public prosecutions Andrew Chauke is fit to hold office.
Among other allegations, Chauke has been accused of unlawfully instituting racketeering charges against the long-disbanded Cato Manor policing unit and its then head, former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Johan Booysen.
The inquiry heard that the granting of permission for Batohi to appoint the legal team of her choice was only communicated on Thursday, and that further details on when she will be ready to appear again were not yet available.
That did not appease Nkabinde, who pressed the evidence leaders for clearer information on Batohi’s return to the witness stand.
“Shouldn’t you get further instructions from the state attorney? We need to get details because we have to move forward. It’s not enough to be told that she has now been afforded an opportunity to be assisted, and the question arises, what then?
“Because we are still waiting. Somebody must tell us when is she going to come and take the seat, the witness seat. When will that be? Is she intending to come back? Will we know when?” asked Nkabinde.
Further details are expected to be submitted on Monday about when Batohi will continue with her testimony. She walked out of the inquiry midway through her testimony in December, saying she needed the assistance of a legal team in order to proceed.
On Friday, former KwaZulu-Natal director of public prosecutions Advocate Moipone Noko concluded her testimony with further evidence related to alleged systematic killings linked to the Cato Manor Unit and the role she attributed to Booysen in managing its operations.
Under cross-examination by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Noko told the inquiry that Booysen could have been prosecuted on the racketeering charge, but that charges were withdrawn by Batohi when she took over as NPA head.
Noko alleged that Booysen and the unit had misled the South African Police Service when they were rewarded for good performance. She said in her testimony that Booysen had stated on record that the unit members were being rewarded for apprehending the “suspects”, but instead they had killed taxi operators of a rival association and got paid for it by the association.
Noko has previously testified that she gave Batohi “detailed evidence” supporting prosecutions linked to the Cato Manor organised-crime unit, but that Batohi did not act on it and instead moved to review decisions to charge members of the unit.
INSIDE POLITICS