Ncqukaitobi grills Batohi on disciplinary action against South Gauteng prosecuting head Andrew Chauke

AdvocateTembeka Ngcukaitobitook national director of public prosecutionsShamila Batohito task at the Nkabinde inquiry on Monday over her decision to institute disciplinary charges against South Gauteng director of public prosecutionsAndrew Chauke. Batohi was “attempting to poison the waters” when she linked Chauke to state capture, Ngcukaitobi said in his cross-examination. “It was grossly irresponsible of you to mention state capture in the context of Advocate Chauke when you have no personal knowledge of his involvement in state capture,” he said.

Batohi told the enquiry she referred to state capture in relation to Chauke to explain her reasons forexposing what she viewed as irregularconduct. “I was asked what were the reasons for me doing certain things at the time and I explained that that was the context within which I took certain decisions,” she said. President Cyril Ramaphosa established the Nkabinde enquiry to determine whether Chauke is fit and proper to continue as the South Gauteng prosecutions director.

According to its terms of reference, Chauke must account for his decision to institute racketeering charges against the former KwaZulu-Natal head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks),Johan Booysen. Batohi said Chauke pushed for charges against Booyen despite there being no evidence to justify them. On Monday, Ngcukaitobi asked whether it was the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) position that Chauke erred in charging Booysen with murder and racketeering.

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“On the basis of the decision of the DPP [director of public prosecutions] in KZN, she found there was no evidence to justify murder charges against any of the accused,” Batohi responded. Ngcukaitobi argued that Batohi relied on a report when instituting disciplinary charges against Chauke and did not study the docket relating to charges against Booysen. He said she concluded there was no case against Booysen, contrary to Chauke’s recommendations, without ever reading the case docket.

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