Tackling the Multi-Headed Dragon: Evaluating Prospects for a Single Anti-Corruption Agency in South Africa

Evaluating prospects for a single anti-corruption agency in South Africa

The Interdepartmental Committee on Corruption was appointed in October 1997 to consider proposals for the implementation of an anti-corruption campaign at national and provincial level. The Committee recommended in its report that Cabinet should consider establishing an independent and centralised anti-corruption agency such as that found in Hong Kong, Singapore, Botswana and New South Wales, Australia.

In particular, the report recommended that "... a project team be established to carry out a feasibility study for an anti-corruption agency and the rationalisation of existing bodies" and in a somewhat contradictory manner proposed "the establishment of an anti-corruption agency with appropriate legislation ... that is properly resourced." This might seem a bit like putting the cart before the horse, but given the current level of confusion about government strategies to fight corruption, this is not surprising. Cabinet apparently approved these proposals on 23 September 1998. However, in the light of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference held in Parliament during mid-November 1998, it became clear that these issues were not conclusively resolved.

When opening the November conference, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki noted: "It is a laudable feature of our new democracy that no less than ten structures exist to counteract corruption in line with their constitutional mandates. Some might share the view that these bodies are not effective enough, whilst others might feel that they need to be replaced by a single anti-corruption agency. This is one of the range of issues that should be addressed at this conference."

It is clear that a key issue in the anti-corruption debate in South Africa concerns whether or not to improve the effectiveness of existing bodies tasked with an anti-corruption mandate, particularly in terms of investigation and prosecution, or whether to replace these institutions by a single anti-corruption agency.  

Evaluating prospects for a single anti-corruption agency in South Africa

Author

Lala Camerer, Crime and Justice Programme, Institute for Security Studies