Without Fear, Favour or Prejudice: Civil society launches initiative to overhaul National Prosecutions Act

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · Apr 01, 2026 · 1185 words · By Marianne Thamm

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What to know about Without Fear, Favour or Prejudice: Civil society launches initiative to overhaul National Prosecutions Act

The Prosecutions Project, a national civil society initiative for the reform of the National Prosecuting Authority Act (NPA Act), was launched on Wednesday to urgently address the constitutional and structural independence of the authority, which has been…

Claims checked 13

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center83%

Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

Without Fear, Favour or Prejudice is the Prosecutions Project’s national call to strengthen legislation for the prosecution authority and restore a system which is currently “constrained by outdated law”.

Common ground

Lukas Muntingh, head of the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Dullah Omar Institute and head of the African Criminal Reform Project, introduced the Prosecutions Project, aimed at building a network of organisations, researchers, practitioners and civil…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Without Fear, Favour or Prejudice: Civil society launches initiative to overhaul National Prosecutions Act?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that The Gauteng high court dismissed a legal bid by Barnabas Xulu to have Mothibi removed from the position?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-04-01-civil-society-launches-bid-to…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 13 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

help Insufficient Evidence 7

verified Verified By Reference 3

schedule Pending 3

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Claim 1: “The Gauteng high court dismissed a legal bid by Barnabas Xulu to have Mothibi removed from the position.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No sources mention Barnabas Xulu's legal challenge or the Gauteng high court's response.

verified

Claim 2: “Various commissions of inquiry, most notably the Madlanga Commission investigating police collusion with organised crime, have exposed the breadth, depth and complexity of corruption and the need for legal reform.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The Madlanga Commission Wikipedia entry only confirms its establishment in 2025, not its findings about corruption or legal reform needs.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jotham Zanemvula “King Mswazi” Msibi, born 3 June 1961, sometimes written as "Jotham Msibi" (died on 7 January 2024) was a South African taxi-industry leader and businessman who played a high-profile …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jothan_Msibi

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System, better known as the Madlanga Commission, is a public inquiry announced in Ju…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madlanga_Commission

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mbuyiseli Russel Madlanga (born 27 March 1962) is a retired South African judge who served as a justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 2013 to 2025. At the time of his retirement, he…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbuyiseli_Madlanga

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Claim 3: “The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) was established in 2024 as a permanent, specialised, prosecution-led unit within the NPA to investigate and prosecute high-level corruption and complex commercial crimes.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No sources mention Idac's establishment date or its structure as a prosecution-led unit.

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Claim 4: “Public prosecutors are appointed by the President in consultation with the Minister of Justice, and this process is neither open nor transparent.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No sources describe the transparency or consultation process for public prosecutor appointments.

help

Claim 5: “The Constitutional Court stated that the NPA is not part of the judiciary but separate.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No sources confirm or refute the Constitutional Court's classification of the NPA's legal status.

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Claim 6: “The Constitutional Court ruling on cannabis in 2018 resulted in 'a huge drop in the total number of convictions'. Today, conviction rates are below those of 1996.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No sources reference the 2018 Constitutional Court cannabis ruling or its impact on conviction rates.

schedule

Claim 7: “Nicole Fritz stated that prosecutions must be made public as current decisions are 'invisible'.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 8: “The appointment of advocate Andy Mothibi by the President as the new head of the NPA was lawful, although he did not go through the interview process.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

While Andy Mothibi's appointment is mentioned, there is no information about the interview process or legal validity.

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Claim 9: “Career prosecutors admitted as advocates before 2018 are not subject to the Legal Practitioners Act.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 10: “The Prosecutions Project, a national civil society initiative for the reform of the National Prosecuting Authority Act (NPA Act), was launched on Wednesday.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

All cited Wikipedia sources are unrelated to the Prosecutions Project or its launch date. No independent verification found.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in ju…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_Public_Prosecution…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingd…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative published in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation with the goal of reshaping the U.S. federal governmen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025

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Claim 11: “From 1996 to 1998, the period before the NPA Act, 200,000 convictions were secured. SAPS provided data showing that over that initial period, there was 'a large increase' to above 300,000 a year.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No sources provide SAPS data about convictions during 1996-1998 or comparisons to 2024 figures.

schedule

Claim 12: “The NPA is housed in Chapter 8 of the Constitution, recognizing a symbiotic relationship between the judiciary, the Judicial Service Commission, and the NPA.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 13: “The Prosecutions Project’s national call is to strengthen legislation for the prosecution authority and restore a system which is currently 'constrained by outdated law'.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia entries mention Andy Mothibi and prosecutorial roles but provide no information about the Prosecutions Project's objectives.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jan Lekgoa Mothibi is a South African lawyer who was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to lead the National Prosecuting Authority as National Director of Public Prosecutions effective 1 February …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Mothibi

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is a specialised independent anti-corruption agency established by an act of the Parliament of Ghana to investigate and prosecute acts of corruption and corr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Special_Prosecut…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.