The NPA’s Hermione Cronje says building the directorate’s cyber capability and data analytics capacity need to be done first
It has taken a lot longer than anticipated for the National Prosecuting Authority’s investigative directorate to develop the capability to deal with complex, serious and high-level corruption cases, its head, Hermione Cronje, said in parliament on Wednesday.
Cronje told MPs's justice and correctional services committee that critical issues needed to be solved first, such as building the directorate’s cyber capability and data analytics capacity in order to establish evidence.She appeared before the committee with national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi, who said that even well-resourced and sophisticated jurisdictions abroad took 5-9 years to bring about very complex corruption cases.
Cronje was keenly aware of the nation’s high expectation of results of the directorate but cautioned that there was lot of preparatory work that had to be done first and that just jumping in would be foolish. Cronje said there was no smoking gun in high-level corruption involving politicians and businesspeople. The evidence was found in electronic and cellphone communications and offshore bank transfers that required a cyber capability the directorate did not have, but has started to acquire.
Batohi said when she took office a year ago, the NPA suffered from a crisis in leadership, serious budgetary problems, high levels of vacancy and low morale, and the nine months to December were spent dealing with those issues. The appointment of deputy directors of national public prosecutions would happen very soon.
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