ActionSA has written to President Ramaphosa asking him to provide us with the reasons for his lack of action on the request made last August by the NPA director’s lawyer, Shamila Batohi, to suspend the Director of Public Prosecutions in Johannesburg, lawyer Andrew Chauke, who is at center of several botched prosecutions.

Last Friday, in a sudden U-turn, the NPA abruptly dropped charges against former minister and ANC MP Zizi Kodwa, citing vague “representations” made by the accused. Unsurprisingly, it was the Director of Public Prosecutions in Johannesburg, lawyer Andrew Chauke, who made the decision, which the NPA’s chief lawyer, Shamila Batohi, said she would review.

Dubbed “Joburg’s King of Public Prosecutions”, Chauke, who has held the role since 2011, is a central figure in both questionable prosecutions and, more strikingly, the lack of them in state capture cases – a record that ActionSA believes it reflects an inadequate prosecution of corruption cases, particularly against high-profile individuals.

Worryingly, in keeping with the president’s tendency to drag his feet, it has been more than a year since he received a request to suspend Chauke, a recommendation based on serious concerns about Chauke’s questionable conduct and ability to hold office, yet today the President seems to have not lifted a finger.