In the first major reverse of the state capture project that brazenly played out in the Zuma years, NDPP Shamila Batohi has withdrawn racketeering charges against former KZN Hawks head General Johan Booysen and others, notes Legalbrief. The decision to prosecute Booysen by former deputy NDPP Nomgcobo Jiba, who was the acting head of the NPA at the time and was seen by many as former President Jacob Zuma's person in the NPA, was alleged to have been politically motivated and ranked among the most controversial moves by the NPA in a decade of dodgy decisions. The charge of racketeering – alleged by Booysen to be part of the capture of the security cluster – related to the ‘Cato Manor death squad’, notes a Mail & Guardian report. At the recent inquiry into the fitness for office of Jiba – chaired by retired Judge Yvonne Mokgoro – Booysen repeated that there was no basis for the authorisation and that he believed it was politically motivated. The decision by Jiba to authorise the charge when she was acting NDPP was set aside in the High Court, but a new authorisation was given by Batohi’s predecessor Shaun Abrahams in 2016 and Booysen and his co-accused went back to court. ‘In the circumstances, the NDPP needed to decide what the NPA position will be in the litigation; this required that she satisfy herself as to the validity of the authorisations,’ a statement from the NPA said. According to the statement, a panel of four prosecutors – including two DPPs and two prosecutors with ‘particular expertise in racketeering prosecutions’ – unanimously concluded that ‘in respect of the authorisations a proper case was not made out on the papers presented’. The panel recommended that the authorisations of both Jiba and Abrahams were invalid.

Batohi also gave ‘careful consideration of the report and other relevant material’ before she made her decision, notes the M&G report. The investigation dockets relating to the remaining charges – which include murder, housebreaking, theft and defeating the ends of justice – have been referred back to the acting DPP in KZN, Elaine Zungu, ‘to re-assess the evidence in each case, and decide whether to prosecute individuals who may be implicated in those matters’. ‘It is important for them to know that the withdrawal of the racketeering charges does not mean that there will be no justice for victims of the crimes. Where there is sufficient evidence that actions of the police amount to criminal conduct, those responsible will be prosecuted and held accountable,’ the statement read.