KZN DPP says NPA can't be blamed for delays in politically motivated murder cases

KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions, Elaine Harrison, says the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) cannot be blamed for the delayed finalisation of politically motivated murder cases.

Harrison testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on Friday.

She's highlighted some of the challenges of prosecuting cases handled by the KZN Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

The provincial NPA boss insists she assigned a team of prosecutors to work alongside the unit to ensure its cases received the necessary attention.

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It's alleged that suspended Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, Shadrack Sibiya, ordered the transfer of dockets from the KZN PKTT to police headquarters in Pretoria in March this year.

This move halted the task team's investigations into 121 dockets and disrupted the NPA' prosecution-led probe on some of these cases.

Harrison has dismissed opinions that the pace of finalising the cases was slow.

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However, she says the NPA can't be blamed, as the dockets were taken away from the task team.

"We have lost approximately three months of conducting investigations. During this time, we did not have access to the dockets."

The dockets were only returned to the KZN PKTT in August.