The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) wants the National Treasury to give it an additional R2.1bn over the next three years so it can recover from years of decay and perform its role fully.
The NPA’s “wish list” was raised during a budget presentation to parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and correctional services on Tuesday.
The NPA not only wants more money (R715m per annum over the next three years) but also told the committee it had exceeded its allocation for the 2021/2022 financial year by R89m.
“We’re going to need not just additional funding from the fiscus but we’re also going to have to find, as the national director and the minister have said, bold and innovative ways in terms of how we actually spend that money,” said NPA deputy national director for strategy, operations and compliance Anton du Plessis.
Addressing the committee, national director of public prosecutions advocate Shamila Batohi said she recalled talks with justice minister Ronald Lamola about making the NPA’s corruption-busting special unit permanent beyond its current lifespan.
President Cyril Ramaphosa established the NPA’s Investigative Directorate (ID) in 2019 with the express purpose of driving state capture cases for a gazetted time frame of five years. Lamola and Batohi support the ID becoming a permanent fixture.
The NPA expects the ID alone will need an extra R400m between 2022 and 2025. That is eight times the additional allocation (R50m) anticipated for asset forfeiture over the same period.
Du Plessis motivated for the extra funds, arguing they would propel advancements in the NPA: “This is really about focusing on the specialisation that’s needed, the additional capacity in the context of growing complexity of corruption, organised crime and crimes particularly committed within the digital environment.”
The NPA is not only pleading for more support from the state, it also plans to draw on private sector help to claw back money state capturers have hidden abroad. “We’re exploring collaboration with international firms to trace and recover stolen monies,” said Batohi.
Last week, Lamola said the NPA did not need donor funding. In answer to a written question from the EFF, he said the government was obliged to adequately resource state institutions.
“To date, the Treasury has met this obligation in respect of the NPA. As a result, the question of private donor funding does not arise,” said Lamola.
But, according to Batohi, engagements with global partners were aimed at expediting the recovery of stolen funds moved offshore. While the NPA would leverage private sector support, she was mindful to guard its independence and heed National Treasury regulations.
Steve Swart of the ACDP praised the ID for recent wins. “The preserving of the assets of the Optimum Coal Mine and Regiments Capital running into some R3bn is a good start. We would like to see more advances,” he said.
Swart harboured concerns about the NPA’s asset forfeiture unit, which did not enjoy a significant budget increase. DA MP Werner Horn was similarly worried about the unit, including in terms of prevailing vacancies.
His colleague, Glynnis Breytenbach, was sceptical about the NPA’s plan to swiftly modernise and nab cybercriminals. “In my experience the NPA has always been ten steps behind criminal networks insofar as access to technology is concerned,” she said.
Batohi promised nine “seminal corruption cases” about state capture would be in court within three to six months. The next half year, she noted, would be “defining and testing” for the NPA.
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