By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A tense cross-examination dominated the proceedings at the Nkabinde Inquiry on Thursday as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Advocate Shamila Batohi was grilled by Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
Ngcukaitobi, who is representing suspended South Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions Andrew Chauke, poked holes into Batohi’s testimony.
He challenged her earlier claim that the final terms of reference differed from drafts submitted by her office. He argued that they were identical.
Ngcukaitobi accused Batohi of seeking to distance herself from the draft that she sent to the president.
However, according to Batohi, multiple drafts had been prepared. She had been referring to another version.
Ngcukaitobi further asked Batohi why the terms of reference did not explicitly state that Chauke may have exceeded his authority in the former KZN Hawks chief Johan Booysen matter.
“Please point us to the passage that states that Chauke acted in excess of his authority,” he said.
Batohi acknowledged that the phrase did not appear verbatim. But she argued that the implication was clear in the accompanying documents.
On Friday, the Nkabinde panel viewed the footage of a suspect being tortured by four members of the Cato Manor unit. Ngcukaitobi said there had been four attempts to bring the torture footage to Batohi’s attention: publication on YouTube, an email containing the links, and an affidavit delivered to her office.
Batohi testified that she had never seen the video before. She said, she had established a panel to investigate human rights abuses by the unit and did not recall receiving the video links.
There’s nothing untoward about me not seeing those videos because a panel was looking into all of the evidence and this is part of the evidence,” she said.
“It cannot be the case that only today you are aware of the video footage,” Ngcukaitobi said.
“My understanding of what I said is that I had not viewed this video,” Batohi responded.
Ngcukaitobi maintained that the existence of the video had been known to Batohi “for a long time”.
“That is correct. Today I am viewing it for the first time,” she replied.
Established by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Nkabinde inquiry is investigating potential misconduct by Chauke in instituting racketeering charges against Booysen.
According to the police inspector’s account, the Cato Manor unit operated with impunity and was “projected via media as heroes and victims”. He said he could provide “solid evidence” that Booysen had lied in the Cato Manor case. He alleged witnessing torture carried out by the unit and attached video footage in several communications to Batohi.
Ngcukaitobi said the inspector had repeatedly reported criminal patterns involving the Cato Manor unit and will testify to the panel at a later stage regarding his evidence. He questioned why Batohi maintained there was no case against Booysen and instead sought to discredit Chauke as an unfit prosecutor.
“I said there was no evidence to support racketeering charges, I have to emphasize that,” Batohi replied.
She insisted that “there was nothing untoward in a national director not looking at all of the evidence when you appoint an experienced team to look at it”.
“And I also want to make the point that, I’m not saying Booysen is an angel. The fact remains that when we charge people we must make sure that we meet the standard of proof required for those particular charges,” Batohi added.
Batohi admitted she has no documentary proof to support allegations that Chauke acted wrongly in the Cato Manor racketeering case. She said her conclusions were based on context, internal reports, and her interpretation of meetings.