The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services has welcomed the appointment of Adv Shamila Batohi as the new National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP).

Committee Chairperson, Ms Madipoane Refiloe Moremadi Mothapo, said she has full confidence in Adv Batohi steering the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) back onto the path where it will restore the confidence. “The last months have not been easy for the NPA. It needs a strong, confident and competent leader to take over the reins and restore its full glory, an organisation that instils trust and confidence. The public needs to trust the NPA and have full confidence in the institution.”

Ms Mothapo said Adv Batohi has a long and distinguished career as a prosecutor and was noted to be fit to hold the position. “She comes across as someone with integrity, which is what the NPA sorely need now.”

She started her public service as a junior prosecutor in the Chatsworth magistrate’s court in 1986 and steadily rose through the ranks to become the Director of Public Prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal. She was seconded to the Investigation Task Unit established by President Nelson Mandela in 1995 and later served as the first regional head of the Directorate of Special Operations based in KwaZulu-Natal. For much of the last decade, she has served as a Senior Legal Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Ms Mothapo furthermore expressed great appreciation to the panel appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to oversee this process and the President himself for having the courage and confidence to appoint a woman to this prestigious position. “It shows the President is serious about the emancipation of women.”