While the remnants of State Capture continue to impact government and state coffers, progress is being made to bring those responsible to book.
This is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa who provided an update on investigations during his address to the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council’s (NACAC) National Dialogue in Gauteng this week.
Ramaphosa highlighted that among the billions of rands that have been retrieved from corrupt elements, at least nine separate court cases, involving 47 individuals and 21 companies, have been brought to court.
“Freezing orders amounting to R14 billion have been authorised by the Asset Forfeiture Unit and a total of R5.4 billion has been recovered and returned to the state,” he said.
“Government departments, municipalities and professional bodies are taking disciplinary action against individuals identified by the [State Capture] Commission.
“The South African Revenue Service has collected R4.9 billion in unpaid taxes as a result of evidence brought before the State Capture Commission.
“While there is a long road ahead, the fight against corruption is gaining momentum.”
He said over the last five years, significant resources had been invested to “rebuild the law enforcement agencies and other bodies that were devastated by state capture”.
“We appointed new leadership with the track record, integrity and capability to tackle crime and corruption. We are now in the process of developing legislation that will insulate the appointment and removal processes for key positions shown to be vulnerable to state capture.
“In 2018, we established the NPA Investigating Directorate to focus on state capture and other serious crimes. We established the Special Tribunal to enable the Special Investigating Unit to fast-track the recovery of public funds.
“In November 2020, Cabinet adopted the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, whose six strategic pillars anchor the deliberations of this National Dialogue,” he said.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that corruption has a significant impact not only on state coffers but in the trust that have in government. He said the fight against corruption and crime should be taken up by all of society.
“Corruption has wounded our democracy in a number of ways and has also shaken people’s faith in our institutions. If corruption is not curbed, arrested or stopped, the greatest damage will not be in the funds stolen … or the jobs lost. It will be in damaging our democracy,” he said.
