{"id":10499,"date":"2026-01-08T13:17:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=10499"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:17:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T13:17:32","slug":"business-calls-for-urgent-npa-reform-to-enable-corruption-prosecutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=10499","title":{"rendered":"Business calls for urgent NPA reform to enable corruption prosecutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"textFreeArticle\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1633125?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>J<\/strong><strong>EREMY MAGGS:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s prosecuting landscape shifting in a big way this week, President Ramaphosa naming Advocate Andy Mothibi as the new National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), and that places him at the helm of an NPA (National Prosecuting Authority) that is under intense pressure to deliver real accountability.<\/p>\n<p>Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) has welcomed the appointment, saying his performance at the SIU (Special Investigating Unit) shows that he can drive reform and also recover stolen public funds.<\/p>\n<p>Listen\/read: Can the new NPA leader restore confidence in prosecutions?<\/p>\n<p>Well, let\u2019s bring you more on this story now. The chief executive officer of Business Leadership South Africa, Busisiwe Mavuso, a very warm welcome to you. Why are you confident then that Andy Mothibi can fix an NPA that, as we know, has struggled for years to secure successful prosecutions?<\/p>\n<p><strong>BUSISIWE MAVUSO: <\/strong>Jeremy, thank you and thanks for the invitation. I really think that his experience and his track record speak for themselves. I really think that looking at what he has done and what he has achieved within the SIU, it makes him the appropriate and relevant appointment for this crucial role.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>He has done an excellent job in as far as the SIU is concerned. He has recovered millions of rands that were lost to corruption.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He has put in place the necessary reforms to enhance institutional performance, and he will no doubt, be the right person to take the NPA to the next level.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>The SIU track record is strong. That is a given. But we all know the NPA is a very different environment. The challenge, of course, is to make sure that those skills transfer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>BUSISIWE MAVUSO: <\/strong>Absolutely. But I think if you look at what needs to be done as well, we can\u2019t put Andy in the same difficult position that we actually put Shamila Batohi in. There needs to be certain reforms that are going to have to be implemented within the NPA to ensure that it can actually operate in a different manner.<\/p>\n<p>Read:<br \/>Ramaphosa names new chief prosecutor to fight graft [Jan 2026]<br \/>NDPP appointment critical to business environment [Dec 2025]<\/p>\n<p>Look at how Sars (South African Revenue Service) operates, for instance, in terms of the independence that Sars has. Sars, for instance, has been able to recover more fully, in part because of the structural advantages that the NPA lacks.<\/p>\n<p>The Sars Commissioner (Edward Kieswetter) has genuine authority over the organisation. He is the accounting authority, effectively the CEO, with the power to hire and fire senior staff. Shamila doesn\u2019t have that latitude.<\/p>\n<p>You would remember that she actually had to beg the President for more than two years to remove and reassign Andrew Chauke, after she had raised concerns that Andrew Chauke is not actually the right person to hold office.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Therefore, it makes it difficult for someone to be put in that position with their hands tied behind their back and expected to perform miracles.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So they need to reform the architecture of the institution so that it is truly independent. As it stands, the NPA operates as a programme within the Department of Justice, and it has the Director-General (DG) of the Department of Justice (Advocate Doctor Mashabane) as its official accounting officer.<\/p>\n<p>Read: Ramaphosa suspends intelligence watchdog amid parliament probe<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re going to have to look at those things. Otherwise, we are going to be putting Andy in exactly the same difficult position that Shamila was actually put in.<\/p>\n<p>I have no doubt that he\u2019s got the skills, he\u2019s got the expertise, he knows what he\u2019s doing, but the structure and the architecture of the institution will actually undermine what he can possibly offer to the NPA.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>You\u2019ve put your finger on the single biggest problem in terms of that reform, and there\u2019s no guarantee that\u2019s going to happen. We know that political interference has undermined the NDPP for over a decade now. How difficult do you think it\u2019s going to be for him to protect the institution from the risk that you\u2019ve just raised?<\/p>\n<p><strong>BUSISIWE MAVUSO: <\/strong>It\u2019s actually going to be difficult, especially if he\u2019s not going to have the minister (Mmamoloko Kubayi) and the DG of the Department of Justice who are actually going to be supporting him.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, even if he wanted to bring the right people on board to try and ensure that he can actually progress, and better position the NPA, he doesn\u2019t sit with that prerogative.<\/p>\n<p>The prerogative of senior appointments sits with the Minister of Justice and the president, a power which in the history of our democracy has actually been invoked for good and ill, so it really makes it therefore difficult, from an independence perspective, to say how does he actually go ahead doing what he needs to do.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I really think that we have done a lot of work as a country from a reform perspective. But we all acknowledge that the criminal justice system is the one area that is lagging behind. We just haven\u2019t done enough.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But also, if we are serious about reforming this institution, if we are serious about reforming the criminal justice system in its entirety, what has come out of the Madlanga Commission, Jeremy, should actually serve as an impetus for us to start taking seriously some of those things.<\/p>\n<p>Listen\/read:<br \/>NDPP appointment critical to business environment<br \/>SA policing scandal upends political succession race<br \/>High-stakes R147.9m Madlanga corruption commission kicks off<\/p>\n<p>We are going to soon be sitting with that report from the Madlanga Commission. That report can\u2019t sit idle the way the State Capture Report sat.<\/p>\n<p>If we want to enable the NPA, the SIU, the police and everyone in the criminal justice system to actually do something about some of the things that have come out from the Madlanga Commission, we therefore are going to have to look at what do we need to do and what powers do we need to give some of these institutions for them to be able to do something about the report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>To be fair, he hasn\u2019t started the job yet. He hasn\u2019t even found his parking bay. But business obviously wants swift, credible action on corruption. Do you have a sense of what kind of timeline he should be held to for delivering visible progress?<\/p>\n<p><strong>BUSISIWE MAVUSO: <\/strong>The timeline will be aligned to how quickly we can actually give him the fair and necessary powers to do his job, because we can say we need him to do this within six months.<\/p>\n<p>If he\u2019s not going to be given the independence, if he\u2019s not going to be allowed to bring in the right people to actually drive the progress of the NPA forward, then we are actually wasting our time.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The timeline that we should be putting as a country in place is not of what Andy should do and when, it is how quickly the reforms that are required to the NPA should actually be done.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Once we\u2019ve put in those reforms, then the timeline can actually start ticking.<\/p>\n<p>As things stand, I really think that is going to be difficult. Be that as it may, however, I have no doubt, that the same way Shamila did her absolute best to actually produce the results that she produced within this tough environment that she was actually thrust in, Andy will definitely do the same.<\/p>\n<p>Read:<br \/>\u2018SA is serious about fighting financial crime and corruption\u2019 \u2013 Ramaphosa<br \/>Murder by appointment: South African lawyers face assassination<br \/>South Africans who blow the whistle face retaliation and murder<\/p>\n<p>But I think it would be naive to think that we would see remarkable progress and would see a significant shift without actually giving Andy true independence the way Sars has, the way the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) has. So we\u2019re really going to have to look at those tweaks to this institution to enable Andy to do his job.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>Thank you very much indeed. The chief executive officer of Business Leadership South Africa, Busisiwe Mavuso, \u00a0I always appreciate your time. Thank you.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\">\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n                if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n                n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n                t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n                s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '779812924991616');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script>#Business #calls #urgent #NPA #reform #enable #corruption #prosecutions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this po&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[266,581,7833,3142,7653,7655,993,1657],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}