With two weeks to go to the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) self-imposed deadline to bring nine “seminal” state capture cases to court, just three cases have been enrolled, and none involves high-profile politicians.
NPA head Shamila Batohi promised in April that she would bring nine high-profile cases within six months, repeating the undertaking in parliament in May. The new urgency with which the prosecuting authority appeared to be tackling state capture cases was welcomed by the markets and civil society organisations, especially given that the Zondo commission completed its work in June.
But a miss on the end-September deadline could prompt renewed scepticism about the NPA’s resolve and capacity to prosecute.
The nine cases involve crimes including corruption, fraud and money laundering, and it is understood that at least four of these will come from the Investigative Directorate (ID), a special unit that was established in the NPA in 2019 to fast-track prominent corruption cases.
Business Day is reliably informed two new cases driven by the ID are “ripe” for prosecution. But they have yet to be enrolled.
Andrea Johnson, head of the ID, said the seminal cases would be a “big win” for SA, and the NPA would put up a serious fight on all the matters it brought to court. But she cautioned that the ID, which would prosecute headline cases as one among several units, could not take on all state capture matters.
“We haven’t had a moment to sit and reflect. We should have that opportunity once the matters are all enrolled by the end of September,” she said.
The cases so far include the ABB, Transnet and Optimum, Johnson and ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka indicated. In July, police arrested two former ABB employees and their spouses over an Eskom contract to ABB worth almost R550m.
Two weeks ago, former Transnet group CEO Brian Molefe and erstwhile CFO Anoj Singh were arrested among other accused, then added to the NPA’s case on Transnet’s multimillion-rand locomotive procurement involving Trillian Capital.
The ID listed Optimum as the third “seminal” state capture case currently enrolled. The NPA won its largest preservation order yet of R3.78bn for the once Gupta-owned coal mine earlier this year. However, the order predates Batohi’s announcement, which it was understood pertained to new matters to be enrolled within half a year.
The NPA and the ID said they are still short of the resources they need to push ahead with prosecutions. Mthunzi Mhaga, the NPA’s spokesperson, said a task force had been set up including the Asset Forfeiture Unit, ID, Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit and the police’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations, known as the Hawks. But more resources were needed.
Seboka said the ID desperately needed permanency to be able to attract the requisite extra skills required for the mammoth task of fighting complex corruption. Ensuring the high-priority cases were trial ready in time placed new demands on personnel: “Working hours have increased dramatically.”
Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh said there was a thirst for accountability after the Zondo commission’s findings. “We would like to get to a point where we have [a] permanent body that could prosecute corruption,” Singh said.
Dan Mafora, research officer at the Council for the Advancement of the SA constitution, suggested the ID should be vested with its own investigative powers, so that it need not rely on the Hawks. “Building cases and prosecuting them successfully takes time and resources. The ID has very little of both. Permanence would allow it to recruit the best talent and to devote resources to capacitating its personnel,” Mafora said.
Rudie Heyneke, who leads the state capture project at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, said he was concerned the “seminal” matters so far excluded Alexkor, Estina and T-Systems. “T-systems was the second-biggest recipient of contracts. It ran up contracts worth billions at Transnet, and I think at Eskom alone it was more than R7bn,” he said.
In December 2018, the state provisionally withdrew its case linked to the Free State government’s Vrede dairy scam, in which millions of rand intended for farmers was allegedly diverted to Gupta-linked accounts.
“We’ve also not seen any politically exposed people. The main politicians aren’t among the accused. That is very concerning,” said Heyneke.
Various politicians whose names featured in the Zondo commission’s report had not been charged, Heyneke said, referring to former president Jacob Zuma and his son Duduzane, former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane, former finance minister Malusi Gigaba and former environmental affairs minister Nomvula Mokonyane.
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