Two of SA’s corruption fighting institutions have received a boost to their operations after receiving bigger budgets.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been allocated R4.9bn for the 2022/2023 financial year, an increase of R374m from a year earlier, while the Special Investigating Unit will receive R452m, up from R438m.
The NPA budget includes the R243.6m for the Investigating Directorate, which sits within the NPA and is tasked to bring those responsible for state capture and corruption to book.
The Special Investigating Unit conducts investigations into state corruption and maladministration through proclamations by the president.
It is unclear whether the increase will be enough to the deal with the increasing number of cases related to corruption and state capture in particular.
National director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi has previously said her organisation was severely under-resourced and underfunded, and warned that this could make it almost impossible to prosecute all matters flagged by the state capture commission.
Last week, Anton du Plessis, the NPA’s deputy director for strategy, operations and compliance, told parliament it needs R715m a year over the next three years, adding that it had exceeded its allocation for the 2021/2022 financial year by R89m.
While SIU CEO Andy Mothibi has also previously stated in parliament that the unit’s funding model, a mix of government financing and funds generated from its work for government department and entities, is unsustainable.
Prosecutions are critical to the government’s plan to clean up its image after widespread graft and state capture under the tenure former president Jacob Zuma.
“The NPA has been crucial in addressing corruption relating to Covid-19 funds,” justice minister Ronald Lamola said during the presentation of the department’s budget vote to parliament on Tuesday. “A total of 232 matters have been registered ... 173 matters are under investigation and 59 have been closed.”
“A total of 244 cases were registered with 140 under investigation, 54 closed and 61 cases have been placed on court rolls with 126 accused persons.”
But the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach was sceptical of the department’s and the NPA’s ability to deliver on prosecutions given the increase in court backlogs in district and regional courts.
“The backlog is ever increasing with just the ordinary criminal matters being generated ... these cases cannot be shifted aside to accommodate the massive corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering prosecutions that must follow Zondo,” she said.
“There simply is no possibility of the SAPS, the NPA (including the ID, which still has a limited lifespan and must end in less than 2 years) and the courts dealing with it all.”
Lamola has told parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and correctional services that the budget allocation from the National Treasury is R22.4bn for this year, an increase of R515m.
“The allocation will help accelerate the extensive work already under way to recover from the unprecedented impact of the pandemic, while delivering a more efficient and modern justice system,” he said
maekot@businesslive.co.za
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