National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Advocate Shamila Batohi has acknowledged before the Nkabinde Inquiry that she did not study the case dockets implicating members of the Cato Manor Unit in serious offences.
Batohi is being cross-examined as part of the commission probing the fitness of suspended South Gauteng Prosecutions Head, Advocate Andrew Chauke, to hold office.
She told the inquiry that when she withdrew racketeering charges against Major General Johan Booysen and the Cato Manor Unit, she relied on an internal memo and a report from the KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), rather than reviewing the full case files herself.
During cross-examination, Chauke’s counsel, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, pressed Batohi on her decision-making process.
Ngcukaitobi asked: “You gave evidence earlier that you did not study the docket when you took the decision to institute a disciplinary case against Adv Chauke, but you relied on the report of Adv De Kock. You never studied the docket is that correct?”
Batohi responded: “Yes, that’s correct, but I also relied on the report of the DPP KZN. I did not study the dockets the 23 dockets.”
Batohi maintained that National Directors are not required to analyse every docket in detail before taking prosecutorial decisions.