Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to stop delaying the disciplinary hearing for suspended Johannesburg director of public prosecutions Andrew Chauke.
It emerged that 45 days after his suspension, Chauke is still waiting on the president to provide details on the inquiry into his fitness to hold office.
When he announced Chauke’s suspension on July 21, Ramaphosa said he believed Chauke’s continued tenure as director of public prosecutions — while facing serious accusations — would negatively affect the reputation of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as a whole.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said on Friday it took Ramaphosa two years to suspend Chauke and “an entire 45 days have elapsed since [Ramaphosa] suspended him, yet Chauke has not received any information on when an inquiry into his fitness to hold office will commence.”
Breytenbach said Chauke was still receiving a full monthly salary “on the public’s dime” and there could be no rational reason for the delay in disciplinary proceedings.
“It is deeply concerning that for a post of this level of national importance, this kind of cavalier approach is being taken. It appears that the president is not taking the crucial process as seriously as he should be,” she said.
Ramaphosa is already under fire for delaying the process of finding a new national director of public prosecutions (NDPP), she said. NDPP Shamila Batohi’s term comes to an end in January when she turns 65.
“His inaction is detrimental to a country yearning for accountability and justice. It is clear that the president is wilfully ignoring the crisis in the NPA by failing in his mandate of the appointment and removal of NPA top brass.”
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