In essence, Ramaphosa’s surprise appointment of Andy Mothibi as head of the National Prosecuting Authority took us back to the State Capture era when then president Jacob Zuma simply appointed who he wanted to run the NPA. How President Cyril Ramaphosa eventually appointed Andy Mothibi as the new National Director of Public Prosecutions, and the recent revelations about corruption at the top of the SAPS, show that reform of the leadership selection process is needed. The door might be opening for Ramaphosa to change the way these appointments are made, and so to force more transparency into the system.Last week, in a surprise announcement, Ramaphosa revealed he had appointed Mothibi as the new head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), to take over at the end of January.
The main reason for the surprise was that Mothibi was not among those interviewed in public by the panel set up expressly for this purpose. Ramaphosa says the panel found that none of the candidates was suitable. Given that several candidates, including Hermione Cronje, had years of prosecutorial experience and had held senior positions in the past, this is incredibly surprising.
The real problem was probably with the panel in the first place. It simply did not have the right people to make a recommendation. It had no prosecutors and there was no justification for including some lawyer bodies while excluding others.
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Its decision to include Menzi Simelane on its shortlist was clearly illegal and made the entire process vulnerable to legal challenge. In the end, it seems Ramaphosa simply bypassed the panel and used the provision in the law that allows the President to make the appointment (so long as the person is suitable and qualified). While Mothibi has a stellar track record, as Rebecca Davishasnoted, the entire affair should and could have been conducted differently.
While Mothibi is an impressive candidate to run the NPA, in essence, Ramaphosa took us back to the State Capture era when then president Jacob Zuma simply appointed whom he wanted to run the NPA. There would be no way to force a Paul Mashatile or a John Steenhuisen or a Julius Malema to follow a transparent process were they ever to become President. At the same time, the revelations late last year in the Madlanga Commission reveal a police leadership that appears to be riven with corruption and factionalism.
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