Shamila Batohi: NPA lacks skilled investigators

Law enforcement agencies have again complained to Parliament about the dire shortage of skilled investigators to crack serious organized crime cases.

They also said the poor vetting process by state security and police intelligence was hindering the recruitment of senior and skilled officials.

The heads of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks briefed Parliament finance watchdog Scopa on Wednesday about the status of investigations at key state-owned enterprises (SOE)s.

The National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, said while a lot of progress was made in investigating grand corruption and state capture at Eskom and other entities, they’re still desperately short of skills and capacity.

Batohi and the NPA listed several of what she calls “institutional impediments” to investigations.

“If you look at issues like skills, yes I think there are serious problems with skills relating to investigating these matters. It’s the numbers, but it’s also the right skills to deal with these matters.”

Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya said that the poor vetting of new recruits was also costing the entity.

“Because there’s a decision on senior management, we can’t appoint unless there is top secret security clearance. This is affecting us.”

The committee threatened to subpoena State Security Agency Minister Mondli Gungubele to explain the slow pace of vetting of senior SOE officials.

-EWN

In other news – DJ Lamiez Holworthy’s mom breathes fire after being questioned why her 3 kids do not look alike

South African DJ, Lamiez Holworthy-Morule‘s mom Imelda Klow, is fuming and she has come out guns blazing to clarify the identity of her children.

Klow who has three children named Lamiez, Lariezh, and Lushaan Holworthy, often gets dragged about why her children do look alike, and she has had enough of it now. It is no secret that Lamiez’s mom is sweet but she will do anything to protect her kids. Learn More