COSATU welcomes the National Assembly’s adoption of the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill
6 December 2023
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the National Assembly’s adoption of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Amendment Bill.
This is an important Bill enhancing the powers of the NPA by providing for the establishment of an Investigating Directorate against Corruption within the NPA to investigate and institute criminal proceedings on cases of serious, high-profile or complex corruption or commercial or financial crimes arising from the recommendations of commissions of inquiry.
The Bill also provides for the appointment of a retired judge to exercise oversight over the Directorate’s investigators and who will be tasked to deal with any persons interfering with investigators including those instances of any improper influence or interference, hindrance or obstruction, including political or any other, seeking to hinder investigations into instances of corruption.
The Federation hopes that this Bill and the establishment of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption will provide a badly needed intervention for the NPA and the state against the cancer of corruption that is bleeding the fiscus of billions of Rands needed to provide public services to working class communities and that has become a cancer endemic across society.
However, if this Bill is to meet its progressive objectives, then Treasury needs to adequately resource it. There is no point of establishing a Directorate, if it won’t be allocated the personnel, resources and support it requires to fulfil its legal mandate. The continuing high rates of prosecutor vacancies, the long delays in courts’ processing cases and the painful decline in the South African Police Service headcount attest to a dangerous disconnect between the objectives politicians pontificate about and the woefully inadequate resources Treasury backs them up with during budgetary appropriations.
It is time government appreciated the value of investing in the state and the positive effect that well-resourced quality public services have upon workers, society and the economy.
Issued by Matthew Parks, Acting National Spokesperson & Parliamentary Coordinator, 7 December 2023
