Cape Town – DA leader John Steenhuisen, has announced that his party plans to introduce a constitutional amendment to establish an independent anti-corruption body called “Scorpions 2.0”.
The proposed institution would operate outside of the executive branch and be protected from dissolution by Parliament.
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,” Steenhuisen said.
Almost a year since Cyril Ramaphosa’s Anti-Corruption Council was established, no legislation has come to Parliament to establish a new SA corruption-fighting body. The DA will now be tabling a constitutional amendment to create The Scorpions 2.0 to combat State Capture 2.0. pic.twitter.com/xElQWbsb9B
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) July 5, 2023
He criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for failing to take effective action against corruption, despite promises to do so.
“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.
Read the full statement here.
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Picture: Twitter/@jsteenhuisen
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
