Accountability Now has welcomed the introduction of the bill the presages the setting up of a new Chapter Nine Anti-Corruption Commission. The private members bill of Glynnis Breytenbach was introduced to the Justice Portfolio Committee on 26 November.

The progenitors of her private members bill are the Justices of the Constitutional Court who concurred in the joint majority judgment of Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke and Justice Edwin Cameron in the second Glenister case in March 2011.

Parliament was directed by that joint judgment to fashion a constitutionally compliant response to the binding findings of that court so as to create anti-corruption machinery of state that is effective and efficient.

Thus far, shamefully so, the judgment has not ever been complied with properly. As a result, state capture, “tenderpreneurism” and kleptocracy have flourished in SA with grand corruption on a systemic basis enjoying impunity while the coffers of the state have been looted of public funds and assets on an industrial scale.

The bill seeks to address the scourge of corruption in SA by creating a body outside the control of the executive (unlike the prosecution service and police) which is imbued with the qualities the court requires, namely:

• Specialists housed in a dedicated entity who work only on countering the corrupt,
• Trained in their craft to a high standard not seen since the demise of the Scorpions,
• Independent of all outside influence and interference, truly enabled to act without fear, favour or prejudice, free of the existing constraints on SA’s police and prosecutors,
• Resourced properly and in guaranteed fashion and
• Secure in their tenure of office.

In a word: “STIRS” compliance is the main aim of the bill in line with the criteria developed by the OECD and adopted by the court in the Glenister judgment.

The bill aligns with the resolution of the NEC of the ANC taken in August 2020 when it instructed the national cabinet urgently to form a stand-alone, permanent and independent entity of specialists to counter the corrupt.

So far, cabinet has only succeeded with what the then deputy minister of justice called a “stop gap” measure in the form of the new Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, IDAC, a body within the National Prosecuting Authority that does not measure up to any of the STIRS criteria and could be closed down as easily as the Scorpions were in 2009.

The Ch9ACC will be capacitated to rake back the loot of state capture, covidpreneurism and other corrupt activities using recruits from the private sector, the best of the staff and infrastructure of IDAC, the Hawks and the SIU (which is the Special Investigating Unit – not a part of the criminal justice system) as well as experts who fled the public administration after the Scorpions met their fate. Strict selection criteria, integrity testing and a system for appointments that ensures the merit and integrity of the Ch9ACC will be the order of the day when the bill is made law and is implemented.

Former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has warned that: “The levels of corruption in our country have reached completely unacceptable proportions, and unless something very drastic and effective is done soon, we will have no country worth calling our home”. The Ch9ACC is a worthy response to his clarion call. It deserves clear and express support from all who seek a better life in SA.

Written by Paul Hoffman SC, Director of Accountability Now