The National Prosecuting Authority cannot continue to prevaricate. By the end of today, we should know whether or not the NPA has dropped criminal charges against ANC president Jacob Zuma. Either way the NPA decides, it will have been a big day for politics and the administration of justice.

The National Prosecuting Authority cannot continue to prevaricate. By the end of today, we should know whether or not the NPA has dropped criminal charges against ANC president Jacob Zuma. Either way the NPA decides, it will have been a big day for politics and the administration of justice.

One thing is certain, whatever decision is announced, it will make a lot of people unhappy. Regardless of which way it goes, the NPA will have to contend with accusations that political pressure had been brought to bear.

If charges are dropped, it is inescapable that the NPA had either pandered to political pressure by the previous political elites who had charged Zuma when there was no case against him. In the minds of others, the same decision will mean that the NPA has succumbed to the whims of the ANC.

Either way, the NPA holds its future credibility in its own hands. Signs are that the decision-makers are acutely aware of this.

We hope that the NPA will have placed the future integrity of the institution ahead of having to curry short-term favours with present or past political masters.

We also hope that the NPA will take the nation into its confidence and tell the nation in detail how it had reached its decision.

We cannot expect any less.