Advocate Xolisile Khanyile's vision for NPA leadership: Prioritising commission recommendations

If she is appointed as the next National Director of Public Prosecutions, she will ensure that the prosecution authority acts on recommendations made by commissions, such as the Madlanga Commission, Advocate Xolisile Khanyile, former director of the Financial Intelligence Centre, said.

She was the first candidate to take the seat on Thursday as part of the selection for the next NDPP, chaired by Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi. Khanyile is a career prosecutor, having served in different roles in law enforcement agencies for 23 years. This includes being a senior official in the Asset Forfeiture Unit for five years, as well as a Director of Public Prosecutions for eight years - both in Johannesburg and in the Free State.

Professor Somadoda Fikeni, chairperson of the Public Service Commission, questioned Khanyile about how she would tackle the backlog of cases not prosecuted, some dating back from the Zondo Commission. He pointed out that the work of the Madlanga Commission would add to these. Khanyile responded that it would be critical for her to prioritise Commission cases to ensure that it moves with speed. “The Madlanga Commission shows that we have not cleaned enough after the Zondo Commission. There is more to do,” she said.

Adding to this, Khanyile said there was a lot of information from the Zondo Commission that was not structured. “It is critical to assemble a team to listen to the evidence heard in all the commissions and to analyse the information. We must then decide on what we will focus on. We don’t need to wait for Justice Madlanga to first report his findings. We can now start.” Khanyile said “This is so that Justice Madlanga does not sing the same song as Justice Zondo after five years, to say he has done all the work, but nothing has been done.”

If chosen as the new NPA head, she will also prioritise sexual offences cases, address greylisting, while organised crime such as money laundering and terrorist funding will also be high on her list. “I will also prioritise communicating with DPPs, as you cannot plan alone.”

She wants prosecutors to be trained and to love their jobs. “I will be happy to see that we have prosecutors who have Ubuntu… I want to see victims feeling safe and prosecutors who take pride in their work.”

Inspired and motivated staff who believe in the bigger vision are important, and they need the right leader, which Khanyile claims she is. She described herself as a fearless Zulu woman.

Diversion and alternative dispute resolution for petty crimes are also high on her list. This is especially to alleviate the congestion of the court rolls in the lower courts and to give those with minor transgressions a second chance.

Khanyile said a lot of prosecutors asked her to come back to the profession. “For my country, I will do it,” she told the panel.

Advocate Hermione Cronje - former Investigating Directorate head (ID), is presently being interviewed. She will be followed by Advocate Menzi Simelane, whose nomination to be interviewed is vehemently being questioned by the Democratic Alliance, who do not view him as a fit person for the position given his history. Simelane is the last of the six candidates to take the hot seat before the panel will forward their recommendations to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za