Friday, 9 May 2025.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is disturbed by the shameless and orchestrated campaign by Paul Pretorius SC and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), who have embarked on a media campaign to orchestrate the renewal of Pretorius’s consultancy contract at the NPA. This follows the expiry of his controversial contract in November 2024, which saw him hired as a consultant to advise on the prosecution of evidence he developed for the Zondo Commission.

In what can only be described as elite manipulation and insider lobbying, Pretorius appeared on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) this week, speaking about the non-renewal of his consultancy contract, and pretending to be the victim of some bureaucratic injustice. Less than 24 hours later, the NPA claimed his reappointment was “at an advanced stage.” This was no coincidence, it was a coordinated PR stunt, engineered to push the NPA and the Department of Justice into accepting the return of Pretorius to a lucrative contractual agreement whose value remains a secret.

We are deeply disturbed by the complicity of the SABC in this obvious media campaign to secure employment by casting doubt on the Department of Justice and using a failing NPA under the leadership of Shamila Batohi, as well as the SABC as an instrument. Pretorius was clearly attempting to manufacture public outcry in order to fast-track reappointment, and the public broadcaster has no business acting as the personal lobbying arm of elite lawyers, whose contracts have expired and whose services were never requested by the South African people.

There is no public outrage demanding the return of Paul Pretorius. No mass call from civil society. Yet somehow, the SABC found it necessary to platform him in a national interview, wittingly or unwittingly aiding a backroom campaign for a lucrative and ethically dubious reappointment.

The EFF is not fooled. We have warned before—and we do so again—that Paul Pretorius represents a dangerous breach of prosecutorial integrity. This man assisted in designing, leading, and developing large swathes of the evidentiary material presented before the Zondo Commission. Yet now he seeks to prosecute the very same material on a different legal platform, with the full backing of the NPA. This is not consultation, this is corruption.

The NPA’s attempt to justify these appointments using Section 38 of the NPA Act is laughable. We have never said the appointments are unlawful, we have said they are ethically repugnant, politically motivated, and represent the textbook definition of conflict of interest. That the NPA does not understand this—or worse, pretends not to—proves how far the institution has drifted from integrity under Shamila Batohi’s compromised leadership.

It is outrageous that the same man who crafted evidence behind closed doors at the Zondo Commission will now have access to classified prosecutorial strategies, case files, and data in an entirely different forum. This is not prosecution. This is weaponised legal theatre, designed to protect certain interests and punish others, while shielding the architects of State Capture’s cover-up from any real consequences.

To make matters worse, Paul Pretorius is no independent actor. He has represented Steinhoff International, FNB, and ENSafrica: all entrenched in corporate crimes and capitalist exploitation. His career has been defined by defending the powerful and he cannot suddenly transform into a crusader for justice. His reappointment is not a legal necessity, it is a strategic placement of a politically safe, elite-friendly insider into the prosecutorial core of our democracy.

This charade has nothing to do with justice. It is a dangerous game of recycling, insider deals, and selective prosecution and it must be stopped. South Africa deserves a prosecuting authority that is independent, incorruptible, and free from the grip of recycled elites. What we are witnessing is the capture of the NPA by a cabal of lawyers who act with impunity, manipulate the media, and answer to no one.

ISSUED BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Sinawo Thambo (National Spokesperson) 072 629 7422

Thembi Msane (National Spokesperson) 061 467 8169

Andiswa Madikazi (Parliament Media Liason) 069 516 4924

Thato Lebyane (Media Inquiries) 078 563 1581