<\/p>\n
You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: Now this is a story that has been front and centre in the news for a long time, and now the departure of Idac\u2019s (Investigating Directorate Against Corruption) leadership is prompting calls for the corruption-fighting unit to be completely reset.<\/p>\n
But Karam Singh, who\u2019s head of liaison and advocacy at Good Governance Africa, is arguing that replacing leaders or simply repairing Idac is not going to defeat the powerful networks behind systemic corruption.<\/p>\n
Read: Andrea Johnson named new Prosecuting Authority head to fight corruption [2022]<\/p>\n
He goes on to say that South Africa needs a fundamentally different and genuinely independent anti-corruption architecture. He joins me on the programme now. Karam, welcome to you. So why is simply fixing Idac not enough?<\/p>\n
KARAM SINGH: Thanks so much, Jeremy. Well, I\u2019m trying to go back through my history and understand how Idac was created.<\/p>\n
If you look at when Cyril Ramaphosa becomes president in 2019, there is a clamour, in the wake of state capture and the capture of the criminal justice sector, to show that we\u2019re doing something in the fight against corruption, and that the Independent Directorate gets created within the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority).<\/p>\n
Now, the whole logic of the Independent Directorate is this idea that we have specialised prosecution-led investigations, particularly in terms of the fight against corruption \u2013 this is the gap that\u2019s been left by the Scorpions.<\/p>\n
Now, as I see it, the process to create Idac ultimately is a half measure. It\u2019s something which falls short of best practice, of what we understand, even what the Constitutional Court has told us in the Glenister judgment in terms of what\u2019s required for South Africa.<\/p>\n
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We need an end-to-end comprehensive anti-corruption agency.<\/p>\n
Independent directorates situated within the police, which has to go through its own process of reform, or the NPA, which also has to go through this renewal process now, is only going to be a stopgap. It\u2019s not going to be the kind of comprehensive response that\u2019s required to deal with the kind of grand corruption threat that we sit with.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: Let me come back to the proposed anti-corruption agency. But the weaknesses in Idac itself, as you outline to me, could they not simply be corrected through new legislation?<\/p>\n
KARAM SINGH: There are issues around the fact that Idac resides within the NPA. Now, there\u2019s been a long battle that the NPA has had around its own independence and the fact that it falls under the Department of Justice, it doesn\u2019t have control over its own budget.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not its own accounting officer. The accounting officer is the Director-General of the Department of Justice. Idac is even once removed within that because Idac is a substructure within the NPA.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s being discussed in terms of the reset?<\/p>\n
Okay, we\u2019re stuck with the Idac now, we have permanent legislation. So the process of renewal has to happen. There has to be a review of the leadership.<\/p>\n
But fundamentally, there are no special measures around who gets appointed to be head of Idac. There are no special measures which talk about how the head of Idac would be removed. These are all processes which are subject to executive control.<\/p>\n
This is the real challenge that we have in the fight against corruption, is that we don\u2019t have an independent anti-corruption entity which is outside of this executive control.<\/p>\n
So the executive, when push comes to shove, we have a crisis. Let\u2019s reset, let\u2019s parachute new leadership in.<\/p>\n
We saw this challenge with the appointment of the National Director of Public Prosecutions. We had an independent panel. They couldn\u2019t recommend a name. So the president then plucks a Advocate Andy Mothibi from the SIU (Special Investigating Unit), who\u2019s subject to retirement in a couple of years because of age limits.<\/p>\n
Listen\/read: Can the new NPA leader restore confidence in prosecutions?<\/p>\n
So it seems very piecemeal, our approach to fighting corruption, it\u2019s not consistent with what\u2019s in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy. It\u2019s not consistent with the recommendations from the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, and it\u2019s in tension with the recommendations from the Zondo Commission.<\/p>\n
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JEREMY MAGGS: So the proposed anti-corruption agency that you\u2019re suggesting, would giving one body investigative as well as prosecutorial powers, not, Karam, create something of a dangerous overreach?<\/p>\n
KARAM SINGH: Of course, and I think this is really the challenge that we sit with, Jeremy. Why are we not embracing this big idea? Because we\u2019re reticent.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve seen the criminal justice sector susceptible to capture. There\u2019s no doubt about it, this is going to be a continued battle in terms of our building our democracy, building effective institutions, their vulnerability to capture.<\/p>\n
So then, what structures do we put in place to make them less vulnerable? We ensure that there are special procedures around the appointments of the leadership.<\/p>\n
We make sure that there are special procedures around the dismissal of that leadership. We make sure that there are rigorous lifestyle audits and internal integrity, so that there\u2019s an integrity standard, and we make sure that there is effective oversight.<\/p>\n
Can there still be abuses of power within that type of a system? Absolutely.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not naive to say that the challenges of Idac go beyond the challenges of institutional design, because we\u2019re still dealing with individuals, and individuals can abuse their power.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: I understand the criticism and I understand the proposal. But are you also not dismissing some of Idac\u2019s achievements?<\/p>\n
KARAM SINGH: Let\u2019s talk about Idac\u2019s achievements. There have been a number of high-profile corruption cases which have been enrolled. We saw some significant progress in an early case with the VBS (Venda Building Society) case. But many of the other cases have stalled.<\/p>\n
Are there other particular achievements that you\u2019re thinking about, Jeremy, that I\u2019m overlooking? Has the needle been moved by Idac\u2019s approach to fighting corruption?<\/p>\n
The SIU, to me, looks like a more effective agency in terms of asset recovery. If you look at the amounts of assets which have been recovered [due to] the Special Tribunal. I think we can call that significant.<\/p>\n
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But if we look at the high-profile prosecutions which we were promised after the Zondo Commission, they\u2019ve really been few and far between. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s purely on Idac\u2019s bat. I\u2019m not saying that Idac is completely rotten.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m saying that Idac was a half measure when it was put in place, and it doesn\u2019t actually grasp the nettle in terms of what\u2019s envisioned in terms of an institutional realignment to effectively deal with the grand corruption challenge that we sit with.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: The new anti-corruption agency aside, and this is a last question to you, be that as it may, there\u2019s been a lot of mess around this whole issue. In the short term, in the immediate term, is there any reform that government could implement to prove right now that it\u2019s serious about defeating kleptocracy?<\/p>\n
KARAM SINGH: I think it\u2019s important that there is some transparency around the reset, around the leadership of the criminal justice system. So we still have to see the Madlanga Commission play itself out.<\/p>\n
But I think in terms of the lifestyle audits that we expect of the leadership and the fact that that\u2019s made available to us, that that\u2019s a transparent process. I think that would go a long way.<\/p>\n
Read: The endless capture, flirting far too dangerously with national security<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m not an advocate, Jeremy, for silver bullets, whether it be reform of the public procurement system, which is not a short game, whether it\u2019s ensuring that we have effective protection for whistleblowers, which, again, is not low-hanging fruit, or we deal with this institutional architecture question in terms of the establishment of an appropriate law enforcement response.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think that there are any quick wins, right, that show us that there\u2019s the effective political will to drive this thing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be something which is going to take time. But we do need greater indications that there is the political will to take on the challenge, and that, I think, is in doubt at the moment.<\/p>\n
JEREMY MAGGS: Thank you very much indeed. I\u2019m going to leave it there. Karam Singh is head of liaison and advocacy at Good Governance Africa.<\/p>\n
#independent #anticorruption #agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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