In what was probably the toughest anti-corruption message he had made since he became head of state, President Cyril Ramaphosa last night announced a raft of measures to break the back of the corruption culture in SA.
The address last night was in light of Ramaphosa outlining the steps he would be taking t6o implement the recommendations made by chief justice Raymond Zondo in his state capture report.
Describing corruption that was perpetrated as “a crime against the people of SA”, Ramaphosa outlined several key actions which his government would take to ensure that graft was defeated.
“Corruption is a betrayal of our democracy and an assault on the institutions that we established together to advance the values of our Constitution and the interests of our people.”
The measures announced touch on virtually every area of public life, including the state, political parties, elected public representatives and public officials, business, professionals and their associations and the intelligence community.
Among the newly announced measures are a setting up of a permanent anti-corruption agency, lifestyle audits for the executive, including the president, killing off of the internal state security agency as currently instituted and criminalisation of donating funds to political parties with the expectation of getting government contracts.
The president also said the Investigating Directorate in the NPA, which had been established to replace the Scorpions, would become permanent.
“Based on the advice of the recently appointed National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council and the outcomes of a review of our anti-corruption architecture by the department of justice, a comprehensive proposal on an effective and integrated anti-corruption institutional framework will be produced for public consultation, finalisation and implementation," Ramaphosa said.
To address concerns about the independence of the NPA, he said, legislative amendments would be introduced with greater transparency.
The Public Procurement Bill, which is expected to be finalised and submitted to Parliament by March 2023, will address many of the Commission’s recommendations on public procurement.
Ramaphosa said lifestyle audits for the president, deputy president, ministers and deputy ministers were being managed by the director-general in the presidency and undertaken by an independent external service provider.
“Government accepts the recommendation for the use of an independent panel with appropriate expertise to recommend candidates to boards of SOEs. No board member will be allowed to be involved in procurement beyond oversight role.
“Ministers will be prohibited from playing any role in procurement within SOEs or departments.
"To address some of the abuses by private companies, amendments will be made to laws currently under review to, among other things, criminalise donations to political parties in expectation of state contracts, to bar suppliers who have engaged in dishonest or corrupt behaviour, and to make failure to prevent bribery an offence.
“We will implement all of the Commission’s extensive recommendations on the intelligence services, together with the recommendations of the High-Level Review Panel on the SSA, chaired by Dr Sydney Mufamadi.”
The president said a new General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill would implement many of the commission’s recommendations, including establishing separate domestic and foreign intelligence services, improving oversight of intelligence agencies and giving practical effect to the principle that no member of the Executive responsible for intelligence may be involved in the operational matters of the SSA.
“Already in progress, the Department of Justice is reviewing the Protected Disclosures Act and Witness Protection Act to give effect to the Commission’s recommendations on the protection of whistle-blowers.
Ramaphosa said he was attending to the commission’s recommendations on members of the executive against whom adverse findings were made.
“To ensure that Parliament is sufficiently resourced to hold the Executive to account, the National Treasury will engage with Parliament to determine the most appropriate way to give effect to the Commission’s recommendations on the funding of Parliament,” Ramaphosa said.
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