City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba seeks parliament intervention on National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)’s failure to prosecute City’s criminal matters.
Mashaba wrote a letter to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for Justice and Correctional Services, Honourable Bulelani Magwanishe, to request parliament’s intervention.
“There is an attacked complete list and lacklustre progress report on the City’s criminal matters. The matters are receiving inadequate attention by the NPA in Johannesburg. Justice should be served to people of Johannesburg. The City submitted a number of damning forensic reports relating to some of these criminal matters. The City seeks urgent intervention of Portfolio Committee and wishes to make presentations to the Committee at its nearest available sitting”, he said.
Mashaba said recently after he was voted as a mayor, he made rooting out of corruption a priority. He added that they created anti-corruption unit, Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS), headed by former provincial Scorpions and Hawks boss, General Shadrack Sibiya.
“GFIS received 5 597 cases after it was established. Value of contracts and mattes investigated total of under R34 billion. GFIS has also been able to provide assistance to SAPS and hawks in order to expedite criminal investigations. The unit investigates allegations of corruption, gather evidence and compiles reports and later hands them to South African Police Services or the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DCPI). Then the criminal docket is opened for further investigations and prosecution, said Mashaba.
He added that once criminal matters are handed over to SAPS, matters ripe for prosecution are handed to NPA. City has found NPA to be utterly ineffectual in prosecuting the City’s matters.
“We have engaged Advocate Chauke who is Director for Public Prosecutions in Johannesburg, for months to ensure that the City’s criminal matters are brought to finality. Those who are elected to steal public money are brought to justice. Beside our effort to assist NPA in finalising these matters, they appear no closer to being re-enrolled. It has resulted in a number of significant criminal cases being left unattended to by the NPA”, said Mashaba.
