New unit to probe state capture announced

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will establish an investigating directorate, which will focus on evidence that has emerged at the state capture commission, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced during his State of the Nation address on Thursday night.

Ramaphosa said it had been agreed with new national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) Shamila Batohi that the directorate be established in her office, to deal with serious corruption and associated offences.

The president would soon promulgate a proclamation that would set out the specific terms of reference of the directorate.

The now-defunct Scorpions was the last investigative directorate within the NPA. The Scorpions was shut down by the government in January 2009.

The Hawks, which form part of the South African Police Service, was established to fill that void. The Hawks, like the NPA, was seen to be political, influenced under former president Jacob Zuma.

“The directorate will bring together a range of investigatory and prosecutorial capacity from within the government and in the private sector under an investigating director reporting to the NDPP.”

Ramaphosa said that in the longer term, the government would work with the NPA and other law-enforcement agencies to develop more “enduring solutions”, which would strengthen the criminal justice system to deal with corruption.

He said the action taken to end corruption and hold people accountable would determine the pace and trajectory of radical social and economic transformation. “The revelations emerging from the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, and other commissions, are deeply disturbing, for they reveal a breadth and depth of criminal wrongdoing that challenges the very foundation of our democratic state,” he said.

He commended the commissions for working under challenging circumstances.