Corruption commission: DA wants SA’s Constitution to be changed

Corruption commission: DA wants SA’s Constitution to be changed

The DA wants Parliament to amend the Constitution in order to establish a new Chapter 9 institution to be called the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

This emerged in a notice DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach published in the “Government Gazette” last month as a way of formality in introducing a private member’s bill for consideration by the National Assembly.

Breytenbach in a statement said the ACC will be mandated to investigate and prosecute serious corruption and high-level organised crime.

“Currently, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which is solely responsible for the prosecution of people responsible for serious corruption and high-level organised crime, has been unable to successfully prosecute these criminals, a failing which needs to be addressed through constitutional amendments,” she said.

In her notice, Breytenbach said the Corruption Perceptions Index ranked countries and territories based on perceived corruption in their public sector.

She said South Africa scored 41 out of 100 and the score was the country’s worst ever score on the index.

“This report raises an alarm on the apparent inability of the South African government to curb the spread of corruption. Despite the President’s promise to fight corruption, it continues to thrive,” she said.

The notice said South Africa has also been placed on the Grey List by the Financial Action Task Force largely due to the inability of the state to counter money laundering, terrorism financing and serious corruption.

The notice highlighted that the Zondo Commission had laid bare public sector corruption. However, since publication of its report, prosecutions have commenced against only a few implicated individuals.

“The functions and powers of the NPA are limited to prosecution, and do not include the investigation of crime, including serious corruption.”

Breytenbach said after the demise of the Directorate of Special Operations, all investigative functions in relation to priority crimes were legislatively allocated to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).

“The DPCI has proved to be incapable of properly investigating serious corruption due to its structural and operational flaws.

“A tacit concession that this failure is ongoing is the questionable establishment by presidential proclamation of an investigative directorate within the NPA in 2019.”

Breytenbach noted that Parliament enacted legislation that currently reserved all investigative functions to the SAPS.

She said the best way to curb corruption was to have an independent, well-resourced, and specialised corruption-fighting body that enjoyed secure tenure of office.

“The proposed Constitution Twenty-First Amendment Bill, 2024 (draft Bill), will when passed, establish an Anti-Corruption Commission as a Chapter 9 institution which, like all Chapter 9 institutions, reports directly to Parliament and is free of executive control as required by the decision of the Constitutional Court in Glenister President of RSA and Others.

“The Commission will be tasked with supporting and strengthening constitutional democracy in the Republic of South Africa by investigating and prosecuting serious corruption and high-level organised crime.”

She said the ACC would be independent and be subjected only to the Constitution.

Breytenbach’s notice of intention to submit the bill comes barely two months after Parliament passed the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill, which provides for the establishment of an Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) as a permanent entity within the NPA.

In October 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, in his implementation plan to the Zondo Commission report, that the IDAC would be established as a permanent entity within the NPA as part of efforts to further strengthen anti-corruption capabilities.

Cape Times