South Africa

Section 179 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996), created a single National Prosecution Authority (NPA). This was followed by the National Prosecuting Act, 1998 (Act No. 32 of 1998), and in August 1998, the first National Director of Public Prosecutions was appointed. 

Its role in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is that of a prosecuting authority and it co-ordinates activities with other component parts of the CJS. There was a thorough re-examination of how it carries out its mandate in 2005, which highlighted a number of areas where improvements could be made.

As a result a number of initiatives have been put into action of which the key initiative is to increase the number of experienced prosecutors within the NPA in order to meet increased demands. The NPA is therefore the prosecuting authority for corruption cases.