Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA wants the Scorpions to be reinstated so the crime-fighting body can deal with “state capture 2.0”.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, DA leader John Steenhuisen gave a detailed breakdown of the party’s plans to tackle the resurgence of state capture through various steps.
These steps include reimplementing the Scorpions as an independent institution and strengthening agencies tasked with investigating and prosecuting those involved in corrupt activities.
The DA’s Werner Horn said the party had proposed legislation to have “the Scorpions 2.0” established to independently fight corruption.
“The DA will be tabling a constitutional amendment for the establishment of the Scorpions 2.0 – a Chapter 9 anti-corruption body to work independently of the executive and without the threat of disbandment by Parliament,” Horn said.
He said that would ensure that a decision for it to be disbanded would require 75% of the Members of Parliament’s vote.
“This is an opportunity to ensure that the other characteristics of a truly independent anti-corruption entity … are also incorporated: A specialised, properly trained and professional staff component which enjoys the security of tenure. An entity which is properly resourced and not subjected to the whims of the government of the day when it comes to funding.”
The DA has been vocal and active in ensuring that Deputy President Paul Mashatile and other incriminated ANC members are dealt with and prosecuted for their hand in corruption.
DA national spokesperson Solly Malatsi lodged a complaint with the Public Protector against Mashatile last week.
Malatsi said the DA sought to resolve when Mashatile had benefitted from his close ties with the ANC-affiliated businessman and state capture accused, Edwin Sodi, who was alleged to have been funding Mashatile’s lavish lifestyle.
News24 previously revealed that the deputy president was using the multimillion-dollar homes of tenderpreneurs and beneficiaries of government contracts implicated in state capture to entertain friends and lovers.
Touching on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s failure to implement the recommendations provided by the Zondo Commission a year later, Steenhuisen said the DA had begun its quest for accountability.
He said the party has written to Firoz Cachalia, chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC), to highlight its apprehensions with the bodywork.
Steenhuisen expressed concern over the executive having oversight of the council’s proposals rather than Parliament.
He said:
The DA has given the council until 18 July to respond to its four requests.
Steenhuisen said the NACAC had to provide a “comprehensive summary” of its work in the last 10 months, including the proposals relating to implementing recommendations from the Zondo Report made to the Presidency.
Among those requests, the DA has given the council until the end of the parliamentary term to table its proposals for establishing an independent statutory anti-corruption body to Parliament and its plan to investigate and prosecute those identified in the Zondo report.
The party has also requested that the NACAC outline how it planned to give the National Prosecuting Authority the independence to investigate everyone named in the report “without fear or favour, especially those with close financial ties to the president, deputy president, and members of the current national executive.”
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