Bungling Dudu Myeni’s case will have devastating consequences for NPA

State capture and its devastating consequences on South Africa’s democracy will be there for all to see for many years to come.

It will not only be in the form of some implicated individuals taking on the Zondo commission report in court, but also in failure of state institutions to perform their duties to their full capacity.

Two of the most affected entities are Eskom and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). While efforts are being made to get Eskom back on track and lift the electricity blackouts burden off the shoulders of this battered economy, Shamila Batohi’s actions to recapacitate the prosecutions body have shown no fruits thus far.

WATCH: Former SAA chair Dudu Myeni gets R10k bail after arrest for Bosasa dealings

The arrest and appearance in court of former SAA board chair Dudu Myeni this past week should have added to the state’s fightback against state capture as the Zondo commission report did identify her as one of the individuals that played a crucial role during the state capture years.

But the case she has been arrested for is alleged corruption related to Bosasa, for an alleged amount that pales into insignificance against the role that the commission says she played. It is all well and good to go after the small infringements but the real fightback against state capture will be winning the big cases against the big people who were the pivots. And this is where it gets murky for the NPA.

The state was said to have spectacularly bungled the first major state capture case to have been brought to court against Nulane Investments, which led to the judge dismissing all the charges against the accused.

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Even though the state is appealing the matter, it was a disastrous start to the state’s fightback campaign. It was especially disastrous for the NPA and Batohi in that her efforts in rebuilding the NPA can only be judged by successful outcomes against the kingpins of state capture.

It is worth revisiting why the NPA has to succeed in getting these cases right. At the centre of state capture was a deliberate strategy to hollow out state institutions by placing individuals who would aid the twisted intentions of state capture protagonists.

This was successfully done at a lot of state institutions but the most crucial one was to have a toothless prosecuting authority that could be sent from pillar to post by expensively funded legal teams, which fully know they are coming up against an NPA that is lacking in depth and capacity.

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So, for the NPA to go for Myeni for what would appear to be minor charges must prove to be part of a bigger planner in the overall scheme of things. In other words, Batohi and her team must show the country that their aiming for low-hanging fruit is part of a strategy that will avoid the kind of embarrassment that happened in the Nulane case.

Even the slightest bungling of this relatively minor case will have devastating consequences for the NPA. It will strengthen the often repeated lie that state capture beneficiaries want everyone to believe: there was no state capture.

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has recently expressed worry that the state attorney is not sufficiently capacitated to defend the commission’s report.

One of the most brilliant ways in defending the Zondo commission’s report would be to charge high-profile individuals such as Myeni and then obtain convictions against them.

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That would send a clear message to all those within state institutions who are contemplating corrupt activities that the NPA is capacitated enough to pursue them and gather the evidence necessary to successfully prosecute them.