NPA, Hawks' plan to receive finance from private sector rejected

SA’s biggest federations have voiced their opposition against plans by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to receive financial support from organised business for the investigation and prosecution of state capture cases as they accuse the private sector of being conflicted and equally implicated in the Zondo report.

This comes as the NPA and the Hawks jointly announced that they were planning to expedite the state capture cases and that they were also looking to the private sector for support.

Business Unity SA (Busa) has expressed its interest to provide financial support to the NPA and the Hawks to help resolve the cases, including the provision of private prosecutors.

Former deputy national director of prosecutions and head of the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), Willie Hofmeyr, said it was not a new phenomenon for the prosecuting body to secure funds from the private sector.

Hofmeyr said while there was no particular regulatory framework that specifically governed this, the NPA had always been able to insulate itself from those who provided the funds.

“It is very important to ensure that whoever is employed with that funding to do work for the NPA, does not have any obligations to the people who provide the funding. It must also be transparent and the private sector must not dictate what must be done and not be done,” Hofmeyer said.

Cosatu has, however, dismissed the offer as the federation said it risked influencing the law enforcement agencies in favour of big business.

Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla accused Busa of trying to present a picture that the nabbing of alleged state capture culprits was about the public sector.

“They cannot outsource that responsibility to the private sector, especially a corrupt private sector like the one we have. If Busa really wants to contribute, they must just ensure that all their members pay their taxes and then there will be enough resources to allocate to these state institutions,” Pamla said.

The NPA and the Hawks said while the findings and recommendations of the Zondo report would give impetus to their ongoing work, they had a more difficult task than the commission, as they had to produce evidence that met “standard of proof for prosecutions”, which would need additional resources.

“This is a Herculean task given the volume of materials and the finite human and financial resources available to our law enforcement and criminal justice agencies,” the joint statement read.

The NPA was planning to work with the Treasury, relevant departments and the “private sector as appropriate”.

“The NPA welcomes the expressions of support from the private sector and will continue to engage with these key partners as appropriate, while insulating itself from any perception of external influence,” they said.

Saftu spokesperson Trevor Shaku said while the federation backed the immediate prosecution of those fingered in state capture and corruption, the proposed role of the private sector would undermine the trust in the work of law enforcement agencies.

“Some of the member enterprises of Busa are implicated in the state capture report.”