The following is a letter addressed by me to Advocate Arius Dathi of the Office of the Public Protector (OPP).

Dear Advocate,

Our complaint to the OPP – Complaint regarding paralysis of the anti-corruption capacity of the state in SA – is due to have its first birthday in December.

You, as chief investigator, are enjoined by section 237 of the Constitution to act on it “diligently and without delay.”

We accept that the complaint is complex and that the Madlanga Commission and parliament’s ad hoc committee will be working on similar territory. However, they both have no power to take remedial action that binds the state, while the OPP is entitled to do so. The remedial action we suggest is that legislation creating a body outside executive control to deal with corruption effectively be passed without delay.

Parliament has been ordered by the Constitutional Court to do just that, but has failed to do so properly at any stage since the order was made on 17 March 2011 in Glenister Two. A litigation option is, in terms of the findings in Glenister One, not available to any public interest litigant until the bills mentioned below are finalised. They have made very little progress since they were introduced in November 2024, almost a year ago.

There are two private member’s bills in process in parliament which seek to address, in a constitutionally compliant manner, the paralysis of which we complain. Private member’s bills seldom get passed by parliament.

The ad hoc committee of the National Assembly is by its very nature an unruly horse which we hesitate to back, we have however made [a submission] to it and have made our submission available to Adv Chaskalson SC at the Madlanga Commission too.

If you prefer working in cyberspace, the submission is on our website, here. [This document was also published on the Daily Friend as a letter, A legislative task left unattended for too long]

Kindly advise when we may expect your preliminary report.

Bear in mind that former Chief Justice Zondo has called publicly for urgent and drastic action to address rampant corruption with impunity in the country. See paragraph 11 of our memo for the PARI webinar deliberations.

Yours in accountability,

Paul Hoffman SC

Director, Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa

Campaigning as Accountability Now