NPA being bolstered to fight corruption, says Lamola

Strengthening the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) human and financial capacity is critical to entrenching the rule of law and fighting fraud and corruption, says Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola.

He was giving parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and correctional services an overview of the department’s performance plans for the current financial year.

“We are in full flight mode in the rebuilding of the NPA,” he said. “We are – as much as possible – directing critical resources to the NPA to ensure that it has the human resource capital and the financial resources to respond to the many crimes which afflict our communities, despite the challenging fiscal environment that we find ourselves in.”

These resources “must enable the NPA to combat organised crime, white-collar crime and corruption. We know that it is not enough but, at least, it is in the right direction to enable them to rebuild and to plan ahead”, he said.

Lamola told the committee the NPA’s Investigating Directorate was making strides in high-level prosecutions.

The directorate had declared 82 investigations and enrolled at least 20 cases, with 65 accused. It had also prioritised nine corruption matters for enrolment within the next six months.

“In their own words, [National Director of Public Prosecutions] Advocate Shamila Batohi and her deputy, Anton du Plessis, have said that we are nearing a moment of high-level prosecutions being executed without fear or favour. We shouldn’t second guess them. They are better placed than all of us to tell no lies and claim no easy victories,” he said.

Turning to the Special Investigating Unit [SIU], Lamola said there was objective proof the corruption busting unit was a “vital cog in our accountability and consequence management framework as a state”.

“To date, the SIU had enrolled cases worth R77 billion in the Special Tribunal and the high court.

“We are now seized with how we strengthen cooperation between the SIU and other law enforcement agencies, such as the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation and NPA, having learnt lessons from the methodology adopted in the fusion centre,” he said.

The department was ready to cope with any influx of work as a result of the release of the state capture commission’s report.

“We are … mindful of the imminent and the already released Zondo commission reports. Special Commercial Crimes Courts have been established in every province and the ones in Palmridge and Pretoria have been expanded to enable them to cope with the work that might come their way.

“We also have a team working on the implementation ... of Zondo’s recommendations, which fall within scope of their work.

“This plan will be presented at the appropriate time.” –