President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announced the formation of a new investigating directorate, which will take the form of the disbanded Scorpions, to investigate and prosecute those implicated in state capture allegations.
The new directorate will see investigators working closely with prosecutors as more allegations emerge at the Zondo Commission, the Mokgoro Commission and the Nugent Commission.
The Scorpions were disbanded in 2009 after the dominant faction within the ANC accused the unit of being used to settle political scores.
Ramaphosa, delivering his opening address to parliament, said the directorate would identify priority cases to investigate and prosecute and will recover assets identified to be the proceeds of corruption.
“The directorate will bring together a range of investigatory and prosecutorial capacity from within government and in the private sector under an investigating director reporting to the NDPP,” he said.
On her first day in office last week, new NDPP head Shamila Batohi said she would immediately set up a specialised team to tackle state capture.
When the president mentioned her at the beginning of his address, he added: “Watch this space.”
Ramaphosa emphasised that revelations at the different commissions of inquiries should be followed by swift prosecutions.
“The action we take now to end corruption and hold those responsible to account will determine the pace and trajectory of the radical social and economic transformation we seek,” he said...