Unpacking The NPA

In the short, troubled and tumultuous history of the National Prosecuting Authority, chaos has reigned. Formed only in 1998, it has seen one head resign after being cleared of being an Apartheid spy, the next being fired after trying to charge the National Police Commissioner, a third suffering the humiliation of being declared not “fit and proper” by the Constitutional Court and the fourth being denied security clearance. You might say that to lose one head of the NPA is careless, two is unlucky, and three, well, three is enemy action. Look closer, and in fact, the hand of President Jacob Zuma appears to have been involved at some level in all three of these. It seems hard for him to escape blame for what’s happening around the next incumbent in this post. Earlier today I chat to Dr Hama from the ISS about this and here's what he had to say...