The head of the Investigating Directorate in the Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Hermione Cronje has described the new regulations that change the terms of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, as a game-changer in the fight against corruption.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently gazetted new regulations, which state that any employee of the inquiry into State Capture will not be precluded from being employed or used as a consultant for any state prosecution agency.
Meaning that the information that commission investigators will receive can be used by the NPA and other law enforcement agencies, such as the Hawks.
Advocate Cronje says these regulations will enhance their capacity to tackle corruption.
“We are able to now recruit and use investigators who have amassed you know vast amounts of experience, knowledge, know-how. We’ll be able to recruit them and deploy them to prepare cases for prosecution not just for presenting evidence at the commission so for me this is a game changer…”
“We have to make sure that our evidence is admissible in court to hold people accountable. But this is the kind of boost to just move us to the next level,” added Cronje.
Before these amendments, commission employees were bound to secrecy and prohibited from sharing any information they obtained from their investigations.
In the video below, Ramaphosa amends regulations of State Capture Commission:
‘State security agencies merged to reverse gains of Mbeki’s regime’
Former State Security Agency (SSA) Director-General Jeff Maqetuka has previously told the State Capture Commission that he believes the 2009 rush to amalgamate the country’s intelligence services was aimed at eroding the gains of Mbeki’s regime.
The South African Secret Service, the National Intelligence Agency, the South African National Academy and the National Communications Centre were merged into the the State Security Agency (SSA).
Former President Jacob Zuma had taken over as the country’s president.
Maqetuka served as the SSA DG from 2009 to 2012. He detailed what he called his constructive dismissal, having to make way for staffers dancing to Zuma’s tune.
Maqetuka revealed that he had raised concern about plans to amalgamate security agencies, only relying on a proclamation and not legislation as required by the Constitution.
Maqetuka said coming in as the new administration, the Zuma faction wanted to assert its authority.
He revealed that during his tenure at the state security agency, allegations made by then Deputy Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula were taken seriously.
Last year, the inquiry heard testimony that the SSA had initiated a probe into the Gupta family when it emerged Mbalula knew about his inclusion in the cabinet in 2009, allegedly from one of the Guptas. The probe was subsequently halted by the then State Security Minister, Siyabonga Cwele. Maqetuka says he first met Gibson Njenje and Mo Shaik at the same press conference.
“Because at that time I didn’t know who else was going to be in this SSA then I met Njenje and Shaik and we greeted each other and then it came out that all us didn’t know what we were going to be until the actual press conference, it was in the actual press conference that Minister Cwele then informed the public about our appointments.”
