Hermione Theresa Cronje is a South African prosecutor. Cronje was the head of the Investigating Directorate (ID) in the Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions.^[1][2] Cronje previously worked in the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit and was involved in the creation of the Anti-Corruption Task Team.^[3]

Cronje moved around a lot during her youth, including to places such as Atlantis, Elsies River and Athlone.^[4] She was named after her grandmother, Hermione.^[4]

Cronje holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Kennedy School of Government in 2010; she also has a BA and LLB from the University of Cape Town.^[5]

Cronje worked from 1998 to 2012 in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).^[2] She was first an assistant to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, and later became a member of the Asset Forfeiture Unit and its Regional Head in the Western Cape.^[2] In 2012, she helped to establish the interdepartmental Anti-Corruption Task Team.^[2]

In 2012, she left the NPA for the Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative, a programme under the World Bank and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.^[6]

In May 2019 she was appointed head of the Investigating Directorate in the Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions.^[1] Her appointment was praised by Corruption Watch (South Africa).^[7][3]

In early December 2021 she resigned from her position as head of the ID. Her decision to leave reportedly stemmed from frustration at a skills shortage within the NPA that prevented the organisation from adequately pursuing various cases of state capture.^[8]