If the DA has its way, the Constitution could be amended to provide for the establishment of an independent Anti-Corruption Commission that will be accountable to Parliament.
On Friday, the Constitution’s Twenty-First Amendment Bill was published for introduction in Parliament to establish the Anti-Corruption Commission as an institution supporting and strengthening democracy, and with the ability to institute criminal proceedings on matters related to incidents of serious corruption and high-level organised crime.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which is currently empowered to prosecute those accused of serious corruption and high-level organised crime, lacked the institutional independence or the resources to effectively prosecute these complex crimes.
“The DA’s anti-corruption bill seeks to rectify this by creating a fully independent Chapter Nine institution, with its sole mandate being the investigation and prosecution of high-level perpetrators,” Breytenbach said.
The constitutional amendment bill comes after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) amendment bill was passed to make the Investigative Directorate (ID) a permanent unit within the prosecuting agency.
The DA and other parties had noted that the NPA bill looked at secondment of investigators and strengthening the ID, but they felt that a commission should be formed outside the NPA.
The parliamentary caucus of ActionSA recently identified deep-rooted corruption as one of its priorities during the medium-term period.
Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said corruption remained rampant and to date, the Government of National Unity has done nothing legislatively to combat it.
“ActionSA believes that there is an urgent need for reforms, starting with a Constitutional Amendment to establish a new Chapter Nine anti-corruption agency specifically tasked with fighting corruption,” Trollip said.
The memorandum of the constitutional amendment bill said it is going to take many years for the NPA to recover after years of being hollowed out during the state capture period.
“It will take an unacceptably long time for the NPA (particularly bearing in mind its interdependence on the SAPS and Hawks for investigative capacity) to deal meaningfully and effectively with the enormous workload of grand corruption that plagues South Africa today.”
It also said the establishment of an Anti-Corruption Commission will remove a large burden from the NPA, allowing them to concentrate on their core function of prosecuting crime and give them space to rebuild.
“An Anti-Corruption Commission will concentrate on a strictly defined and legislated space, dealing only with large scale grand corruption and high-level organised crime, harnessing the capabilities of the Special Tribunal of the SIU more effectively, and providing a quicker, more efficient and effective method of dealing with the type of corruption and high-level organised crime we see on a daily basis, but which cannot be dealt with effectively within current existing structures.”
Breytenbach said it was time that the country’s battle against corruption was taken to a higher gear.
“By creating a new unit, expertly staffed and fully independent, with the same status as the auditor-general or the public protector, we can tackle these high-level crimes head-on and further strengthen our democracy free of corruption,” she said.
The bill envisages that the Anti-Corruption Commission and the NPA will establish principles governing co-operation between them.
It provides that any person may submit information relating to serious corruption and high-level organised crime to the Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation and the possible institution of legal proceedings.
Cape Times