They enjoyed an enviable 94% success rate and in their last year of existence seized contraband to the value of more than R4-billion.

The Scorpions were good at what they did to counter corruption. The prosecutorial function is constitutionally reserved to the NPA, an institution which, before the Zuma presidency, housed a unit known as the Scorpions or Directorate of Special Operations. Without proper investigations, no prosecutions can follow. Rather optimistically, it was expected in April 2012 that Parliament would take the orders made against it in the March 2011 judgment of the Constitutional Court more seriously than it did.Īs matters stand, the investigation of corruption is the sole legislated mandate of the Hawks or, to give them their official name, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation. The leadership of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) complains of a backlog of more than 10 years of anti-corruption work and the Chief Justice has remarked that “an army of prosecutors” will be needed to work its way through the corruption cases recommended by the State Capture Commission (SCC) which he chaired.

It is now common cause that Stirs-compliant anti-corruption machinery of state does not exist in South Africa and has not since Zuma swept to power in December 2007. S is for secure in tenure of office, insulating the personnel against being fired capriciously or worse, the unit being closed down for no legitimate purpose of government.R is for resourced properly and in a guaranteed fashion and.I is for independence, both operational and structural that enables personnel to function without fear, favour or prejudice in a context in which political and executive influence and interference are not countenanced.T is for properly trained experts in corruption-busting.These have become known as the Stirs criteria, in which: The matter was the second Glenister case (this worthy litigant found his way to the Constitutional Court on three separate occasions for the purpose of preventing the explosion of corruption that turned into an almost successful capture of the state in the Jacob Zuma years) and it gave birth to the criteria by which the anti-corruption machinery of state must be measured. It is more than 11 years since the Constitutional Court spelt out, “loud and clear”, in the words of one of the justices involved, the requirements for effective and efficient anti-corruption machinery of state in South Africa. Join Maverick Insider.ĪNC’s persistence with the National Democratic Revolu. If you’re rejigging your budgets, and it comes to choosing between frothy milk and Daily Maverick, we hope you might reconsider that cappuccino. Our country is going to be considerably worse off if we don’t have a strong, sustainable news media. We can't survive on hope and our own determination. A little less than a week’s worth of cappuccinos. At R200, you get it back in Uber Eats and ride vouchers every month, but that’s just a suggestion. After all, how much you value our work is subjective (and frankly, every amount helps). We don’t dictate how much we’d like our readers to contribute. BUT maybe R200 of that R1,050 could go to the journalism that’s fighting for the country? Don’t get us wrong, we’re almost exclusively fuelled by coffee. Think of us in terms of your daily cappuccino from your favourite coffee shop. What it comes down to is whether or not you value Daily Maverick. More specifically, we'd like those who can afford to pay to start paying. We'd like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick

The persistence enhanced review