Dear Editor,

The Gordons Institute of Business Science boasts an Anti-Corruption Coalition which does good work in the field of righting our ship of state’s capacity to deal with serious corruption and organised crime.

Its most recent guest speakers gathered at GIBS on 25 August. They included recently retired SARS boss, Edward Kieswetter, who examined the need for structural and operational reform of the anti-corruption machinery of state in South Africa. Given the disarray at the IDAC,  the disorganisation in the NPA and the dysfunctional and high vacancy rate at the DPCI, his observations were both timely and apposite.

As long ago as 2014, the Constitutional Court, per Chief Justice Mogoeng, put the need for reform in pellucid terms in the last Glenister case:

“Corruption is rife in this country, and stringent measures are required to contain this malady before it graduates into something terminal. We are in one accord that South Africa needs an agency dedicated to the containment and eventual eradication of the scourge of corruption. We also agree that the entity must enjoy adequate structural and operational independence to deliver effectively and efficiently on its core mandate.”

Despite the elapsing of a dozen years, SA has never had the required single agency capable of discharging an anti-corruption mandate effectively and efficiently. Persisting with the multi-agency approach of both the Zuma and Ramaphosa administrations is clearly counter-productive and also unconstitutionally weakens all anti-corruption efforts. The experiment with the Hawks as the anti-corruption body has failed due to lack of capacity and a limited mandate that does not include prosecutorial powers.

Kieswetter was, in effect, channelling the binding judgments of our apex court in his talk. It is high time that the Department of Justice pays proper attention to the overlapping requirements of the law and the pleas of good citizens like Kieswetter. Graduating into “something terminal” is not an option. Giving serious consideration to the idea of an anti-corruption body under Chapter Nine would be a good start.

Yours in accountability,

Paul Hoffman SC