New ‘Scorpions’ must be resourced to tackle capture

THE Zondo commission of inquiry has already revealed a litany of claims of state capture, fraud and corruption that added to the economic woes of the country.

What has emerged is that billions of rand that should have been channelled to infrastructure projects and to state-owned enterprises have been used to line the pockets of intermediaries and those who directly benefited from large-scale looting.

It is a mess that has left government departments scrambling to tighten their belts, simply because there is not enough money to go around.

Yet, in the midst of this government economic turmoil, very few South Africans will object if Finance Minister Tito Mboweni makes a special allocation during his Budget speech later this month for the new state capture investigating directorate, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week.

This new version of the “Scorpions” will be given a limited time to prosecute those implicated in the capture of the state.

The indications are that NPA boss Shamila Batohi is assembling a team of specialist investigators and forensics experts to take on this massive investigation.

For this investigative directorate to work it must be able to operate without fear or favour and must have the resources, financial or otherwise, to tackle those implicated in state