The ANC and the DA have welcomed the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) appointment of a team to probe allegations of state capture and the Guptas.
The Sunday Times reported on Sunday that prosecutions boss Shaun Abrahams had established the team.
NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku confirmed the team had been established, saying it would assist the Hawks.
However, Mfaku said he could not divulge further details of the composition of the team.
The appointment of the team comes amid mounting criticism of Abrahams’s perceived inaction despite increasing evidence against the Gupta family.
The Sunday Times reported that advocate Malini Govender, acting head of the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit, would supervise the team.
ANC spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni said a law-enforcement institution performing its duties was something that always had to be welcomed.
DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said it was "better late than never" for the team to be set up.
The party would like to know who was on the team and whether the right skills were in place to deal with the case, which would probably be very complex, he said.
"We hope they are not going to deploy the deputy prosecutor in the traffic court to the case because if they really want it to succeed they need to put resources, money and skilled personnel behind it."
The NPA might need to bring in outside resources because of the complexity of the investigation, Selfe said.
Money laundering, corruption, tax evasion and bribery are among the potential crimes that could be investigated, based on leaked e-mails about the Gupta family’s activities.
The e-mails helped to blow the lid off how the Guptas and their inner circle allegedly captured state institutions, especially state-owned entities.
Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said that the NPA provided prosecutors to assist in guiding investigations was nothing new. Usually, however, the NPA would assign a single person, although a team would be assigned depending on the severity of the case.
Mulaudzi said he was unsure how long the probe would take. There was still a lot of work to be done, but so far the Hawks had not experienced problems.
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