NPA deputy director Anton du Plessis steps down
NPA's Advocate Anton du Plessis is stepping down
Image: FILE
While Wednesday is the final day of the year, it also brings to a close Advocate Anton du Plessis’s time at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Du Plessis, the NPA’s deputy national director of public prosecutions, resigned for personal and family reasons.
NPA communications head Bulelwa Makeke confirmed the news to IOL.
"In August 2025, he informed President Cyril Ramaphosa of his intention to vacate office at year-end for personal and family-related reasons," Makeke said.
"The President approved his release with effect from December 31, 2025."
Makeke said Du Plessis played an important role in strengthening governance.
"He will be missed by colleagues and partners who worked alongside him to stabilise and reposition the organisation under demanding conditions."
Du Plessis said: "I am grateful to President Ramaphosa for the opportunity to serve when the defence of the rule of law truly mattered.
"Rebuilding the NPA has been difficult and often contested, but necessary.
"I am proud of the platform we leave behind and confident that the incoming NDPP will take this work forward.”
Before returning to the NPA as deputy national director of public prosecutions in 2021, he led the Institute for Security Studies and worked across more than 20 African countries.
He holds three law degrees, is an admitted advocate of the High Court, and has more than 13 years’ experience in legal and management roles.
Du Plessis began his prosecuting career in 1997 and was later appointed as a senior prosecutor, where he led the NPA’s development and roll-out of specialised sexual offences courts and Thuthuzela Care Centres.
Du Plessis previously grabbed headlines after he was denied top security clearance by the State Security Agency.
The refusal was based solely on his dual SA and British citizenship.
The NPA had applied for the clearance in 2021 when Du Plessis returned to the authority after working at the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate.
He was formally refused clearance shortly thereafter, with the NPA saying the vetting process was otherwise completed without issues and included a polygraph test.
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