Accountability Now Trustee Ghalib Galant said on Thursday that transparency and reporting more regularly about the state of investigations are important for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to take the public into the State’s confidence.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Friday receive the final Special Investigating Unit report on alleged widespread corruption related to Covid-19 procurement.

In celebrating International Anti-Corruption Day, Accountability Now and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation hosted a webinar to explore the state of corruption in South Africa.

Galant noted the investigation into personal protective equipment corruption during the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that the former Health Minister was implicated in the diversion of funds meant to support the country’s efforts to deal with the outbreak of the pandemic.

“It’s really important that the NPA does better in terms of taking the public into its confidence,” said Galant citing a hallowing out of public trust.

He said this was probably seen most clearly in the results of the country’s local government elections in November, which revealed a lack of public trust in the country’s political system.

Galant said anti-corruption work was complex, adding that there were a new set of skills and a new terrain that the country needed to navigate in a virtual world.

He said there was also a need to work on the ethical dimension, arguing that, despite high profile convictions, the culture that had been allowed to grow supported tenderpreneurship or corrupt activity.

“The finger-pointing, ‘we should be taking action against that politician and that businessperson but not if he's from my party’, that sort of culture continues to allow for corruption. It also needs to be addressed,” he explained.

STATE CAPTURE COMMISSION

Galant said the country established the State capture commission as a rebuilding exercise, which was meant to bring some transparency and shine a light on corrupt activities.

However, he pointed out that the commission did not have prosecutorial power.

He explained that building trust was important, noting that millions of rands were spent doing this type of information gathering. He said more resources must still be placed behind getting corruption cases to successful convictions.

He added that if this was not done, the public would experience yet another unfulfilled promise.

“It is really important that we get this piece right,” he said.

He also noted that fixing the NPA was important, saying Accountability Now would be calling for an independent corruption-busting organisation.