The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development says that it is ready to submit the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill to parliament, which, once enacted, will give South Africa a permanent corruption-busting prosecution team.

In the national gazette on Friday (25 August), the department said that the Bill will be tabled in the National Assembly “shortly”, which will kick off the process of getting the amendments signed into law.

The Bill takes a big step to re-establish and formalise a specialised investigation unit within the National Prosecuting Authority – akin to the Directorate of Special Operations, or so-called “Scorpions”, which took on many high-profile corruption cases before being disbanded by an ANC majority in 2008, ahead of the election of Jacob Zuma as president.

The Bill specifically seeks to amend the National Prosecuting Authority Act to insert certain definitions and to provide for the establishment of the Investigating Directorate against Corruption (IDAC) and its powers and functions.

It will provide for appointment of investigators in IDAC; the appointment of investigators, to provide for the security screening of investigators; the remuneration and conditions of service of investigators; the powers and functions of investigators; alongside other administrative processes related to the unit.

Key to the coming changes are also transitional arrangements relating to the NPA’s existing Investigating Directorate to become part of the IDAC.

The Bill will also make amendments to related legislation – such as RICA – to make provision for applications for directions in terms of RICA by the head of IDAC.

The return of a specialised investigative unit comes as a response to the findings of the state capture commission, as well as the detrimental impact unabated corruption had on South Africa and the economy over the last decade (and even longer).

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an “implementation plan” relating to the commission’s findings in October 2022, where he said the NPA’s Investigating Directorate would be made into a permanent unit.

The ID was established in March 2019 as a temporary unit to investigate corruption-related crimes directly tied to the state capture commission’s findings.

The permanence of the unit will also boost South Africa’s prospects of getting off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) greylist.

South Africa was added to the list earlier in the year, with the group flagging slow action and weak stance on rooting out corruption and prosecuting those identified or alleged to be involved.

While some state-capture recoveries have been made, to date, no high-profile persons of interests flagged in the commission’s findings have been successfully prosecuted.

The full changes presented in the Bill will be published once it has been tabled before parliament.

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