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The National Prosecuting Authority head office in Pretoria. Picture: FINANCIAL MAIL/FREDDY MAVUNDA
There is an ongoing spat between the department of justice and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) concerning the fate of the materials put together and archived as part of the extensive work done during the Zondo state capture commission at a cost of over R1bn to the taxpayer.
According to official sources in the department, the NPA wants to become the sole custodian of the data. Still, an official interviewed by the Daily Maverick reportedly said SA’s multiagency approach to fighting corruption means the justice department must be open to all agencies, some of which are far faster than the NPA at attacking grand graft.
The NPA, ever obtuse, seems to be seeking no more than access to data it requires in connection with its corruption investigations. The law, if properly implemented, would not countenance the current bickering.
Since March 2011, and confirmed in November 2014, the Constitutional Court has taken up the attitude that a single agency is required to be the anticorruption entity SA needs. The “multiagency approach to fighting corruption”, a hangover from the Zuma era, has clearly not been a success in practice. The overused strategy of shovelling a hot-potato matter from agency to agency explains why this failure haunts our anticorruption efforts.
In 2011 the Constitutional Court ruled, in terms that bind the government, that “our law demands a body outside executive control to deal effectively with corruption”. In 2014, it similarly held that: “We are in one accord that SA needs an agency dedicated to the containment and eventual eradication of the scourge of corruption.”
The end of the Zuma-era multiagency approach could be nigh. Two bills aimed at setting up a constitutionally compliant chapter 9 entity as a permanent anticorruption commission are in the works at parliament. A new, single agency to prevent, combat, investigate and prosecute corruption will be established if the bills are passed, as they should be.
Recent utterances by the president at the UN General Assembly suggest that his approach is one that respects the rule of law and honours delivery of human rights. His government is bound by the court findings, though they have never been properly implemented either on his watch or Zuma’s. The constitution demands that human rights guaranteed to all in the Bill of Rights be respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled by the state.
As both the NPA and the justice department will be deprived of any role in countering the corrupt, the fate of the Zondo archives will become uncontroversial.
Paul Hoffman Director, Accountability Now
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: End to fight over Zondo archives in sight
There is an ongoing spat between the department of justice and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) concerning the fate of the materials put together and archived as part of the extensive work done during the Zondo state capture commission at a cost of over R1bn to the taxpayer.
According to official sources in the department, the NPA wants to become the sole custodian of the data. Still, an official interviewed by the Daily Maverick reportedly said SA’s multiagency approach to fighting corruption means the justice department must be open to all agencies, some of which are far faster than the NPA at attacking grand graft.
The NPA, ever obtuse, seems to be seeking no more than access to data it requires in connection with its corruption investigations. The law, if properly implemented, would not countenance the current bickering.
Since March 2011, and confirmed in November 2014, the Constitutional Court has taken up the attitude that a single agency is required to be the anticorruption entity SA needs. The “multiagency approach to fighting corruption”, a hangover from the Zuma era, has clearly not been a success in practice. The overused strategy of shovelling a hot-potato matter from agency to agency explains why this failure haunts our anticorruption efforts.
In 2011 the Constitutional Court ruled, in terms that bind the government, that “our law demands a body outside executive control to deal effectively with corruption”. In 2014, it similarly held that: “We are in one accord that SA needs an agency dedicated to the containment and eventual eradication of the scourge of corruption.”
The end of the Zuma-era multiagency approach could be nigh. Two bills aimed at setting up a constitutionally compliant chapter 9 entity as a permanent anticorruption commission are in the works at parliament. A new, single agency to prevent, combat, investigate and prosecute corruption will be established if the bills are passed, as they should be.
Recent utterances by the president at the UN General Assembly suggest that his approach is one that respects the rule of law and honours delivery of human rights. His government is bound by the court findings, though they have never been properly implemented either on his watch or Zuma’s. The constitution demands that human rights guaranteed to all in the Bill of Rights be respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled by the state.
As both the NPA and the justice department will be deprived of any role in countering the corrupt, the fate of the Zondo archives will become uncontroversial.
Paul Hoffman
Director, Accountability Now
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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