South Africans lament ‘injustice’ at the hands of NPA

Some South African have come full force voicing out their pain allegedly due to the country’s justice system with one man now saying he was wrongfully arrested and sexually assaulted while in custody.

The man who worked up the courage to share his pain, revealed today that he was gang raped while in prison after being accused of sexually molesting his four year old niece.

He says he was kept in prison for almost four months for a crime he never committed.

“On the 24th of July 2019 I was released. I was not sure why I was being released. When I asked why I was bring released they said it’s because the state has insufficient evidence. The state did not have evidence against me. My niece was never raped,” says the man.

The distraught man says he has been unable to secure job opportunities for six years, since his name was flagged for being under investigation.

He says it was later discovered that the police mistakenly connected him to the rape of another four-year-old, who had been allegedly molested by her uncle.

Scores of South African are deeply pained by the injustices, they say, they have suffered due to current leadership within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

They accuse the prosecutions unit of constantly failing to uphold it’s duty to safeguard their lives and believe that its boss, Shamila Batohi, now needs to step down.

The angry South Africans showed solidarity to ActionSA protestors who demonstrated in front of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in Pretoria, demanding that the current NPA leadership be dissolved and replaced.

Just a few weeks ago, GNU’s DA took to the media, voicing out frustration over the NPA’s alleged lack of assertiveness in some of the country’s high profile criminal cases, saying a Private Member’s Anti-Corruption Unit must be established to preclude misconduct within government.

ActionSA’s Matthew George says the NPA’s incompetence reflects a disturbing pattern.

“The NPA continues to be beset by deep dysfunction whether through incompetence or woeful neglect that reflects a disturbing and entrenched pattern. It has become a refuge for the politically connected and a place where accountability is avoided, justice is delayed, and prosecutions collapse with alarming regularity,” says George.

One of the South Africans who believe Batohi did nothing to turn the tide at the NPA shared of her pain after she was allegedly arrested for laying assault charges.

The woman claims she was taken into custody, a day after laying the charges after her alleged assailant manipulated the police into thinking that she was the violator.

“For some reason I had to stay there with criminals and I stayed the whole day. But when I left the place I promised myself that I am going to pursue this case and I will never drop the charges,” the woman told YNews while weeping.

She says she was shocked to learn on the day she laid charges against the alleged perpetrator that he had previous charges of assault and attempted murder of four other women.

To her shock, she adds, the case has now been struck off the roll and law enforcement authorities never told her reasons for that decision.

ActionSA MP, Athol Trollip, accuses the NPA of appointing criminals as prosecutors.

Trollip says the NPA is quick to tell the media that its department has some of the most difficult tasks, and that it is doing a good job, while the authority is actually infiltrated by crooked prosecutors.

He made reference to the Fort Hare University supply chain corruption case, claiming the prosecutors were the worst team for the job.

“Shamila Batohi appeared bemused when Pastor (Timothy) Omotoso, after eight years was released, his prosecutors botched his case. The initial prosecutors in the case were kicked off by the NPA and they were reassigned to prosecute the Fort Hare corruption scam where supply chain management has been taken over by university mafia and people are being assassinated. So they took the prosecutors off one case and they take them to a more important case,” says Trollip.

Saying “Makahambe” (she must go) during his remarks, the veteran politician says Batohi’s department likes saying it is reviewing cases, which in most instances are left unaccounted for.

Scores of citizens who were at the demonstration gave his speech a round of applause.

Young South Africans, who agree that the current NPA leadership is failing to uphold its mandate of safeguarding the lives of citizens, believe fresh blood needs to be injected into government departments to rid it off deep-seated rot and corruption.

Nio Moitse (24), who came to the protest not as a supporter but rather an observer, boldly says corruption has deeply infiltrated government departments and that leaders are positioned there to ensure it continues.

He rejected ActionSA’s protest as a façade, saying the party is only there to gain likes from citizens.

“At the end of the day they’re gonna come and give you guys a memorandum telling people that they will give feedback in seven days. While no one is watching the Justice Department will meet with the ActionSA leaders to give him some money; like it’s chai bra. So, I feel like South African political parties are just putting up a façade,” adds Moitse.

He suggest that young people, who possess actual merit and have no political connections, should be given opportunities within the cabinet to help alleviate some of the issues the country is grappling with. Written by Odirile Rabolao