Hawks and NPA are still being blown by the wind
It is good news for the country and our criminal justice system that the Hawks have started taking action against those implicated in allegations of state capture, but it also shows how SA’s democratic institutions have been, and still are, politically influenced.
In the week in which the ANC finally took the decision to recall former president Jacob Zuma and a looming parliamentary no confidence vote in him if he refused to resign, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) swooped on his friends the Guptas and some of their associates.
Early on Wednesday, which was D-day for Zuma to vacate office, the Hawks arrived at the Guptas’ Saxonwold compound and other residences in Gauteng to execute a searchand-seizure warrant and implement warrants of arrest.
It has been almost two years since charges were laid in relation to state capture. We even had a damning report by the public protector.
But only when it was clear that the president, who is accused of hollowing out the country’s institutions to shield himself, his family and allies from prosecution, was on the backfoot did things start to move.
The first indication of this was in mid-January when the offices of the Free State premier and now ANC secretarygeneral, Ace Magashule, were raided in relation to the Vrede dairy farm project, in which R220m in government grants was siphoned off to the Guptas and their associates.
The money from the project was paid to a company, Gateway, laundered through other Gupta front companies in Dubai and part of it diverted back to SA to pay for a lavish Gupta wedding at Sun City.
Political analyst Somadoda Fikeni says there is no doubt that democratic institutions of law enforcement have been captured, because of the kind of deployment that took place. People were appointed who were beholden to those who appointed them.
An example of this is ousted Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza, who was eventually removed from his position by the courts.
Ntlemeza and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) boss Shaun Abrahams seemed to be deep in Zuma’s pocket. This was evident by the role both played in the charges laid against former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, which were subsequently withdrawn.
Abrahams has also been fighting hard, until now, to ensure that Zuma did not face corruption charges. Fikeni said people like this were appointed to “prevent justice from rolling in a particular direction precisely because political principals were either involved in corruption or were paving the way for immunity and impunity”.
New ANC and state president Cyril Ramaphosa has spoken out about corruption and has promised to deal with allegations of state capture, assuring South Africans that anyone, no matter who they are, found to be involved will have action taken against them.
This is a very different tune to what Zuma was singing as he boldly told ANN7 that allegations of state capture were “political propaganda”. Now that Zuma is gone those who were doing his bidding or were influenced by his political leadership need to save their jobs and get in line with Ramaphosa’s vision. Hence the manner in which the Hawks and NPA have suddenly started to do their work, instead of sitting around like lame ducks.
During his state of the nation address last week, Ramaphosa said criminal justice institutions had been “taking initiatives that will enable us to deal effectively with corruption.…. This is the year in which we will turn the tide of corruption in our public institutions”.
Although there was a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture, which would be starting its work soon, he said it should not displace the regular work of the country’s law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting any and all acts of corruption.
After reshuffling his Cabinet Ramaphosa will no doubt be looking at shaking up the leadership at the Hawks and the NPA.
Abrahams is most likely to be first on the chopping block, considering a court has already set aside his appointment. He is still appealing against this.
Ramaphosa said in his state of the nation address that he
THE ACTION WE ARE SEEING NOW IS PARTLY BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO ENSURE THEY KEEP THEIR JOBS
would deal with the NPA’s “leadership issues” to ensure that “this critical institution is stabilised and able to perform its mandate unhindered”.
The action we are seeing now is undoubtedly partly because people are trying to ensure they keep their jobs, says Lawson Naidoo of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution.
“[What is happening now] shows how they respond to political events and are not acting impartially, that when political winds shift then we suddenly see action. Why the sudden burst of energy at this 11th hour when there has been pressure on them to do stuff for a while and they refused?”
Although they should be applauded for taking action those in the top echelons of these institutions need to account for why they have done nothing until now.
As SA enters a “new dawn”, under new political leadership, the country needs to ensure that there is accountability and that these critical institutions are left to do their jobs without fear or favour.