ActionSA will write to President Ramaphosa demanding action to stop Justice Department's kneecapping of the NPA
14 August 2024
ActionSA will write to President Ramaphosa to demand action over the Department of Justice (DoJ)'s obstructive kneecapping of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), with reports that the NPA's Investigating Directorate (ID), established specifically to probe corruption-related crimes uncovered by the State Capture Inquiry, has been blocked from accessing crucial state capture evidence.
ActionSA is outraged to learn that the ID has apparently been maliciously prevented from accessing the database containing troves of vital state capture evidence due to the Department of Justice's failure to maintain the database, this despite nearly 20 letters from the NPA pleading for access, which evidently have gone unanswered.
In what can only be described as a shocking display of at least wilful incompetence or, at worst, deliberate obstruction, this now compromises the ID’s ability to use the State Capture Reports to successfully prosecute these cases of egregious corruption. This outrage is compounded by the fact that the Minister of Justice has yet to respond to related correspondence and to finalise the implementation of the NPA Amendment Act, which was assented to by President Ramaphosa earlier this year.
ActionSA demands that the Department of Justice answers for this colossal failure, given that the final state capture reports, which cost taxpayers R1 billion to produce, were handed to President Ramaphosa over two years ago, yet South Africans have yet to see a single implicated individual charged, prosecuted and in orange overalls.
In light of the urgent need to ensure the ID is adequately capacitated, President Ramaphosa must intervene by directing that the DoJ finalise the implementation of the NPA Amendment Act without delay.
Additionally, ActionSA reiterates the urgent need to safeguard the NPA’s independence, which must include measures to significantly increase its funding and allocate its budget directly from the Division of Revenue Act, rather than through the Department of Justice.
ActionSA is determined to fight to restore the rule of law in South Africa and ensure that our justice system adopts a zero-tolerance approach toward corruption, which has ravaged the country and continues to do so.
Issued by Athol Trollip, Parliamentary Caucus Leader, ActionSA, 14 August 2024
