Op-ed: Is South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority imperiled by constitutional ambivalence?

In a week of constitutional spectacle that’s seen former National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams finally vacate his post, a debate over the status of the NPA and moral and legal calibre of his successor was bound to happen. Provisionally, the consensus would appear to be to appoint an NDPP within 90 days of this week’s Constitutional Court ruling. But beneath the veneer, the actual extent of disarray in the NPA is potentially more damaging than the invalidation of Abrahams’s appointment – raising questions about whether the appointment of a new head is an adequate remedy. [ . . . ] It speaks to a more expansive question: Is the legal process of appointing NPA heads fundamentally flawed? More acutely, does the substantive basis of the constitutional ruling not go to the heart of the problem: the constitutional independence of the NPA from executive influence?
Read the full article here: Daily Maverick