Steenhuisen vows to bring back 'Scorpions 2.0' to fight corruption

DA leader John Steenhuisen has announced that his party will be tabling a constitutional amendment for the establishment of a Chapter 9 anti-corruption body to work independently of the executive and without the threat of disbandment by parliament.

Calling it Scorpions 2.0, the opposition party says this institution should be set up on the basis of establishing a new Chapter 9 institution to fortify such an entity against political manipulation by the present government or even a future government. 

“This will prevent politicians from disbanding it when it does its work, as we have seen with the Scorpions, which was abolished by a simple majority vote in parliament,” he said.

The opposition leader emphasised that the fight against corruption is a fight that must be won to rescue South Africa from entrenched corruption and state capture.

“Given that the national anti-corruption advisory council [NACAC] has not been forthcoming with any proposed legislation to create corruption-fighting bodies in the republic thus far, the DA has stepped in to do the work for them,” he said.

Steenhuisen announced that should this proposed entity be positioned in Chapter 9 of the constitution and identified as being critical to the rule of law in the country, it will require the support of at least 75% of MPs to be disbanded should it be deemed central to the rule of law.

He criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for making what he deemed were empty promises to tackle and root out corruption, saying it created “unbridled enthusiasm for his new dawn”.

However, the enthusiasm was short-lived as a lack of firm action taken against those implicated in corruption has become a hallmark of Ramaphosa’s presidency, Steenhuisen said.

“During the state of the nation address of 2021, the president announced the establishment of the NACAC, to oversee the initial implementation of the anti-corruption strategy and the establishment of an independent statutory anti-corruption body that reports to parliament.

“Now, two and half years later, there is still no sign of this independent statutory anti-corruption body. It would seem that in the meantime this promise was replaced with a new promise — to make the Investigative Directorate of the NPA a permanent structure — which of course also remains an unkept promise with nothing but talk to support it,” he said.

Steenhuisen vowed that the DA would agitate for the establishment of an entity which is properly resourced and is not subject to the whims of the government of the day when it comes to its funding.

“Our private member's bills will give effect to these goals and are in the final stages of development. In the meantime, we will engage the anti-corruption advisory council, which is there for South Africa and not the party now in government, or its president, with a view of working with it to ensure that its primary brief is achieved.”

The opposition leader lambasted the government's slow pace in strengthening and expanding whistle-blower protection as well as the substance of the amendments the government is considering, saying it is not showcasing the type of urgency and seriousness demanded by the critical role whistle-blowers are to play in an effective fight against corruption.

“Ramaphosa announced that the relevant law enforcement agencies were to take the necessary steps to address the immediate concern about the safety of whistle-blowers — unfortunately, since then no new measures, like extending witness protection to whistle-blowers whose lives are endangered by their revelations, were introduced,” he said.

Steenhuisen revealed that a discussion document on the proposed reforms of the whistle-blower regime was published and public comment was invited.

“The choice to publish a discussion document, rather than a draft bill, is yet another example of how this government is delaying the urgent. In addition, the document is primarily constituted of background legal research, with only two pages dedicated to concrete proposals,” he said.

While Steenhuisen praised some of the draft proposals, he said the DA believed it lacked at least one key ingredient if the country is ever to break the mafia-like stranglehold of corrupt masterminds.

“The establishment of a compensation fund from which those who blow the whistle on grand-scale corruption that leads to convictions of those at the top of these corrupt schemes and the recovery of substantive amounts of public funds, are to be compensated. This fund will encourage legitimate whistle-blowing while simultaneously punishing any information provided that is false or in bad faith,” he said.

“We strongly believe that the organised manner in which grand corruption is now being perpetrated demands bold, decisive and urgent action. Once again, we will be looking to introduce a private member's bill to achieve this, if the government of the day remains unwilling to incorporate this into an urgent draft bill.”

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