The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) welcomes the appointment of Adv Andy Mothibi, the current Head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), to succeed Advocate Shamila Batohi, whose term concludes at the end of January 2026.
He has a wealth of institutional experience and succeeded in the turnaround of the SIU by strengthening systems, processes and strategic partnerships, resulting in improved performance of the unit. This success will undoubtedly serve him well, given the many challenges facing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which has suffered a loss of public confidence due to the unsuccessful prosecution of certain high-profile cases, including the Omotoso case.
Despite welcoming Adv Mothibi’s appointment, the ACDP questions the appointment process as he was neither shortlisted nor interviewed by the Advisory Panel established by President Cyril Ramaphosa to recommend candidates for appointment as the NDPP. This resulted in Adv Mothibi not being subjected to the transparent and rigorous interview process.
It also raises the question that if President Ramaphosa had intended to exercise his powers of direct appointment from the outset, what was the purpose of the Panel. We note, however, that the Panel did not find that any of the candidates were suitable. The question is then whether the Panel would have found Adv Mothibi suitable had it interviewed him. We will regrettably never know the answer to this.
Despite the above, we wish Adv Mothibi well in his new appointment, trusting that he will bring stability and restore credibility in the organisation. We look forward to engaging with him and the NPA in the Justice and Constitutional Development Portfolio Committee as we exercise our oversight role. We also wish to thank Adv Batohi for her service as the NDPP, under extremely difficult conditions following the years of state capture and hollowing out of state institutions, including the NPA.
