The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) must use the explosive testimony before the Zondo commission of inquiry into State capture to act against former minister Malusi Gigaba and top officials at Eskom and Transnet "without delay", the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday.

DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach reminded the NPA that its hand has been strengthened by a presidential proclamation allowing it direct access to the information given to the commission, hence it did not have to await its findings.

Security staff told the commission on Thursday that Gigaba, former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, former Eskom chief financial officer Anoj Singh and former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama would visit the Saxonwold home of the notorious Gupta brothers and leave with duffel bags stuffed with cash.

"The explosive testimonies of former security personnel and drivers of ministers and state-owned enterprises executives paints a picture of a ruling elite’s utter contempt for those they are meant to serve," Breytenbach said.

"Now that the NPA has access to this information directly, and no longer has to wait for the completion of the processes of the commission, they must act, and act immediately. These flagrant excesses cannot go unpunished any longer, and the NPA needs to demonstrate now, not later, that there are serious consequences to be faced for this type of disregard for the law.  

"These people need to be prosecuted, and if convicted, sentenced harshly."

The proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month allows not only the NPA but the Hawks and other crime-fighting agencies to use evidence given before the commission to launch investigations into the suspects in the long-running rent-seeking scandal that bled the state's coffers during the Zuma administration.

Breytenbach said it was offensive that those implicated were left to live in luxury while law-abiding citizens incurred criminal records for breaching the regulations gazetted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It is a travesty that they are allowed to live free and in luxury, on the proceeds of crime, while law-abiding citizens are stuck with criminal records due to nonsensical Covid-19 lockdown regulations or dying of hunger as a direct consequence of these Gupta-captured cadres’ actions," she said.

"It is time to see action being taken against the likes of Molefe, Gigaba and co. over these allegations levelled against them."