Africa-Press – South-Africa. A new ethics office in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) as well as steps to make its Investigating Directorate a permanent law enforcement unit are in the pipeline.
Speaking at the RMB Morgan Stanley Big Five Investor Conference in Cape Town on Tuesday, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said an Office for Ethics and Accountability for the NPA is being established. It will detect and address any future unethical behaviour.
The ethics office is expected to be in place at the end of the financial year.
“We are also in the process of putting in place all the necessary measures to ensure the Investigating Directorate becomes a permanent feature of our anti-corruption law enforcement framework,” said Lamola.
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In addition, more than 1 000 new employees have been hired to increase the NPA’s presence outside the major centres.
Among the new appointments are several high-level positions, including all Director of Public Prosecution posts and several Special Directors of Public Prosecutions posts, he said.
The justice minister said gender equality was a focus during the recruitment drive, with nine women appointed to top leadership positions within the NPA.
Lamola added that a budget of R1.1 billion had been allocated to the NPA for the financial year.
Among efforts to capacitate the NPA has been the establishment of a Special Task Force to enable the NPA and other law enforcement institutions to bring prosecutions based on the investigative work of the Zondo Commission, said Lamola.
“The NPA established a joint task force with [the Hawks] to coordinate responses and ensure that seminal cases are prioritised for investigation, prosecution and asset recovery,” he said.
“The task force is delivering on its mandate to drive coordination and coherence in NPA and [Hawks] responses to Zondo reports. Resources have been pooled, and a well-coordinated approach to prosecution-guided investigations is being implemented.”
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