Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a nine-member National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council to help him formulate approaches to fighting corruption.
The Presidency on Monday announced the move, which it characterised as “strengthening South Africa’s fight against fraud and corruption”.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the council would help Ramaphosa fight corruption and would help with the effective implementation of the anti-corruption strategy by the government, civil society and the private sector.
The panel would also provide Ramaphosa with guidance on the government’s response to implementing the recommendations of the Zondo Commission report.
Ramaphosa has until 22 October to report to Parliament on how his administration will implement the report’s findings.
“The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council is a multi-sectoral partnership for advocacy and action against fraud and corruption that will augment the work done by law enforcement agencies who play an independent role in terms of combating corruption and other criminal activities,” Magwenya said.
“The council has been established to deepen the country’s efforts to rid society and the administration of corruption, improve investor confidence and secure higher public trust. The new body will advise the government on the critical preventative measures, institutional capabilities and resources required to proactively curb a recurrence of state capture and prevent fraud and corruption in South Africa.”
Ramaphosa said the council would be welcomed by those who seek an end to corruption, and feared by those whose days were numbered.
“The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council is the embodiment of our united resolve as a nation to rid all components of our society of all forms of crime and corruption and develop a whole-of-society response to and prevention of this scourge.
In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa defined the council as part of a long list of active commitments he has made to dealing with corruption.
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Other successes included the strengthening of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks. He said that the Hawks had enrolled 20 corruption cases with 65 people charged. The NPA had obtained freezing orders valued at R5.4 billion, with R70 million paid into the criminal assets’ recovery fund.
The Special Investigating Unit had recovered funds and assets valued at R2.6 billion in the past eight years, Ramaphosa said.
The unit had succeeded in enrolling 119 cases worth R13 billion at the Special Tribunal.
The government had in 2020 created a Fusion Centre where complex crimes could be probed in a multidisciplinary setting.
“In the last financial year, the work of the Fusion Centre supported 276 fraud and corruption investigations. Approximately R659 million was restored to the state through the preservation and recovery of the proceeds of crime. Approximately R613 million in suspected criminal proceeds were frozen. Last year, SARS completed 25 lifestyle audits to the value of over R450 million to resolve discrepancies between declared income and an individual’s lifestyle,” Ramaphosa wrote in his newsletter.
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