Overview
- Under cross-examination on Friday, NDPP Shamila Batohi conceded she had not disclosed a complaint by the mother of a murdered teenager in the Esikhawini case she cited as the sole acquittal, and the hearing adjourned until Monday.
- Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi pressed claims that Batohi misled the panel about adviser Dr David Broughton’s input and sought to distance herself from draft terms of reference, accusations she rejected.
- Batohi has acknowledged relying on a deputy’s memorandum rather than reading the Booysen racketeering docket herself and conceded drafting mistakes in at least one charge that fed discrepancies in the inquiry’s terms.
- Inquiry members flagged missing annexures in Batohi’s submissions, and she noted the KwaZulu-Natal DPP had not received 23 murder case dockets that could have influenced earlier decisions.
- Civil-society group Outa defended Batohi’s approach as professional and said courts accept reliance on summaries, as the inquiry weighs Chauke’s handling of the Booysen and Mdluli matters.