Another reason we need an independent Anti-Corruption Commission

We note with a measure of anger and dismay the recent news that the Ministry of Justice is frustrating the access of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to the Zondo evidence database. These actions highlight the vital need for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), an independent Chapter 9 body, with the powers to investigate and prosecute serious corruption and high-level organised crime, free from the interference of the Minister of Justice, and only accountable Parliament.

Despite Justice Zondo himself indicating how important the Zondo Commission evidence is to the prosecution of state capture crimes, the evidence remains in the control of the Ministry of Justice on an online database consisting of around 1 million gigabytes of evidence relating to state capture.

As the Ministry controls the database, the NPA is forced to subpoena evidence to gain access to it. Now, as reported by News24, this evidence cannot be accessed by the NPA, due to the Ministry’s failure to maintain the database. This coupled with the lack of a prosecutor-led investigative unit, has inter alia led to the NPA being unable to make any progress in state capture prosecutions.

The situation, requiring the NPA to engage with the Ministry for over 2 years to gain unhindered access to these vital documents has never been brought to the attention of the Justice Portfolio Committee, and one must wonder why. The fact that these engagements have amounted to nothing tells a shocking tale of how the Ministry, either through incompetence or mala fide intentions, have managed to frustrate the prosecution of key political role players in state capture. A process already frustrated by the under-capacitated NPA that lacks true independence.

While the new NPA Amendment Act, yet to be operational, is said to address this issue, this Act is only a stopgap to the much greater issue of independence with the NPA. The legislation just does not cut the mustard.

The Democratic Alliance will shortly be introducing a private members bill in the 7^th Parliament, proposing the creation of the anti-corruption commission, to deal, once and for all with the issues related to independence and the prosecution of serious corruption and high-level organised crime. We will further submit Parliamentary Questions to the Minister of Justice to understand why the Ministry is hampering the NPA in prosecuting state capture, and call the Department to the Committee, to explain this truly shocking and bizarre state of affairs.