Failing to prosecute? Assessing the state of the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa

This report by the Institute for Security Studies assesses the independence, accountability, and performance of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in South Africa. It identifies a systematic tendency to decline to prosecute as the central issue affecting the organization, noting that this trend is not caused by a lack of resources or excessive workloads, but rather by the inappropriate exercise of prosecutorial discretion.

• The NPA exhibits a systematic tendency to decline to prosecute cases, leading to a proportional decrease in cases placed on the court roll and brought to trial. This is evidenced by a general decline in the number of verdicts and persons sentenced to prison.
• The failure to prosecute is not caused by a lack of resources or excessive caseloads. While staff numbers have increased, efficiency per prosecutor has declined, and evidence suggests the NPA is operating below its optimal workload.
• The National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) possesses a constitutionally sanctioned power of veto over the decisions of subordinate prosecutors. The exercise of this power has cast doubt on the NPA's independence and impartiality, negatively impacting public confidence and internal morale.
• The NPA's focus on high conviction rates (often exceeding 80-90%) may create a perverse incentive to enroll fewer cases. The report argues that conviction rates are a misleading measure of performance if they do not account for the total volume of completed dockets referred by the police.
• Legislative factors have hindered NPA performance, specifically minimum sentencing laws from 1998. These laws have increased the number of criminal appeals and discouraged the use of plea-and-sentence agreements, which remain under-utilised at less than 1% of total finalised cases.
• The NPA has successfully transformed its racial demographics to align more closely with the South African population, with black employees making up 74% of the workforce by 2009. However, gender equity has regressed, with women representing only 13% of management as of 2009.
• The NPA maintains that it has unfettered discretion not to prosecute and that such decisions are generally not subject to judicial review. The report argues this contradicts the constitutional duty to prosecute when a prima facie case exists and no compelling reason for refusal is present.

APA

Redpath, J. (2012). Failing to prosecute? Assessing the state of the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono186WEB.pdf

Chicago

Redpath, Jean. Failing to prosecute? Assessing the state of the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies, 2012. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono186WEB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Redpath |first1=Jean |title=Failing to prosecute? Assessing the state of the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2012 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono186WEB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{redpath2012failing, author = {Redpath, Jean}, title = {{Failing to prosecute? Assessing the state of the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2012}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono186WEB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }