New NPA outfit may not be like Scorpions

The announcement that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will soon establish an investigating directorate to focus primarily on state capture has sparked debate that this is the re-emergence of the now-defunct elite crime-fighting unit the Scorpions.

However, it seems the new directorate will possibly be more like the joint anticorruption task team established by former president Jacob Zuma, which had very little success.

The Scorpions was set up by former president Thabo Mbeki in 1999, with a mandate to investigate and prosecute corruption and organised crime.

The Scorpions started investigating and prosecuting highprofile cases and had an 82%94% conviction rate, Corruption Watch says.

But the elite unit was eventually accused of being politically influenced and in 2007 at the ANC’s watershed Polokwane conference the party decided it should be disbanded. In 2009, the ANC government officially shut down the Scorpions. The Hawks, which forms part of the SA Police Service, was established to fill that void.

Ten years later, on February 7, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his state of the nation address that he would soon promulgate a proclamation that will specify the terms of reference for an investigating directorate in the office of the new national director of public prosecutions, Shamila Batohi. This directorate will focus on evidence at the state-capture inquiry, other commissions and disciplinary inquiries.

But it is not yet clear what powers the unit will have.

An official, with in-depth knowledge of the NPA, says the new unit will be very unlike the Scorpions.

The Scorpions had investigative powers very similar to that of the police and could recruit its own staff. It was also looking at a broad range of cases.

“This directorate is for a specific crime, [and] this specific crime is corruption. It is the same as the anticorruption task team … [which] had all the different stakeholders under the same roof. The difference is that in this case, you will have a dedicated capacity,” the official said.

Investigators, analysts, forensic investigators and prosecutors would be seconded from institutions such as the Hawks, the NPA, the Treasury and even the private sector.

However, no-one knows what the terms of reference for the new unit will be. The NPA will not comment on the matter until Ramaphosa has promulgated the proclamation.

The Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution’s Lawson Naidoo said the new directorate could become Scorpions 2.0 but this would depend on the terms of reference.

He said the key thing about the directorate was that it resuscitated the idea of a joint investigating and prosecutorial process, but it would take time to set it up. “I think it is an important step. The anticorruption task team … really didn’t work and had almost no success.”

The DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach, who is a former prosecutor, said she did not think there was any intention to bring back the Scorpions.

She said there was no doubt the new directorate would have a positive effect, but the only question was from where the money would come.

The NPA had been underresourced for years, battling for money to fill vacant posts.

“The directorate will cost a lot of money to start up. You are not going to need people with general skills, you are going to need people with special skills, [and] that costs money. If you want to do the job properly, it costs money.”

Breytenbach said if finance minister Tito Mboweni did not set aside money in next week’s budget speech for the directorate then “we know they are not serious”.

What is yet to be seen is whether the new directorate, under the stewardship of Batohi, will be left to investigate and prosecute the allegations, even against those in the higher echelons of government, without interference.

This will be the true test of whether Ramaphosa is serious about rooting out corruption, even if it means prosecuting officials within his party.

I THINK IT IS AN IMPORTANT STEP. THE ANTICORRUPTION TASK TEAM … DIDN’T WORK AND HAD ALMOST NO SUCCESS