WATCH THE PRESIDENT SIGN THIS BILL INTO LAW SOON

For so long, rampant corruption has been at the root of much that ails South Africa today. Citizens can do something about it by voting for parties that unequivocally and genuinely stand up against corruption.

The ANC leadership now finds itself in the proverbial “last chance saloon” of this election season, in which corruption has taken centre stage. With the Phala Phala couch, Paul Mashatile’s house and lifestyle, and the unspeakable ex-speaker’s wigs, the description that “the ANC is accused number one” is as accurate now as it was when first uttered by the President. He has failed to renew the ANC, apart from getting rid of its former president and secretary-general, both of whom have come back to haunt the party.

The bill seeking to make the Investigating Directorate permanent is the best the Cabinet can do to point towards institutional renewal. The new entity won’t cut it: lacking in independence and just as vulnerable to closure as the Scorpions were, there is ample scope for successfully impugning the constitutionality of the bill.

As long ago as August 2020, the ANC called on the Cabinet to establish a standalone, independent, specialist body to counter corruption and organised crime. The bill does not do so, not by a country mile. The new Anti-corruption Commission envisaged by the DA does fit the requirements and has wide support in opposition ranks.

The President will either sip the Kool-aid in the bill or turn away from it to do as both his party and the DA demand: drink the elixir of constitutional compliance on countering corruption.

If he assents to the bill, everyone, down to the humblest voter, will know that the Ancled government is soft on corruption, unwilling to implement binding court orders and in breach of international obligations to establish independent anti-corruption machinery of state.