NPA skills crisis: Cronje warns of 'catastrophe' in prosecutions

Former Investigating Directorate (ID) head, Advocate Hermione Cronje, has warned of a severe "skills catastrophe" within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Cronje made the comments during her interview for the top prosecutor post at the NPA, a position she is one of six candidates vying for.

Thursday marks the second and final day of interviews as the term of the current National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shamila Batohi, is set to conclude next month.

Cronje previously served as the Western Cape Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit before leaving the NPA in 2012. She returned in 2019 to lead the Investigating Directorate, a role she held for three years.

During her interview with the advisory panel, Cronje admitted that she "did not realise how bad things have become" when she returned to the NPA.

"That doesn't mean that there aren't very good people in the NPA with very good experience. But as a whole, we are failing at ensuring that prosecutors have the skills that they need to come up against skilled legal professionals on the other side."

Cronje stated that the skills catastrophe has led to prosecutors being relegated to secondary legal professionals.

For much of her testimony, Cronje was highly critical of the state of the NPA, saying that when she was head of the ID, there was "no space to implement" what she believed the institution needed.