Business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) has called for the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development to provide full and complete access to the database of evidence collected during the Zondo Commission to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The three-year-long Zondo Commission, held at a cost of almost R1-billion, delved into State capture and recommended many prosecutions more than two years ago. The NPA has been attempting to take those recommendations forward and has been stymied by a lack of access to the millions of documents that the commission collected in its investigation, says BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso.

“The damage done to institutions through State capture was immense and we are still rebuilding. Our weaknesses in tackling crimes like money laundering and terrorist financing have landed the country on the grey list of the intergovernmental watchdog the Financial Action Task Force.

“If there are no consequences for fraud and corruption, our wider society also suffers enormously,” she says.

The DoJ has cited so-called “administrative problems” in providing access, but this issue has been dragging on for years. It is unacceptable, Mavuso says.

“Questions are increasingly being asked whether the problem is in fact a lack of will on the side of the department and whether it is frustrating the NPA on purpose.

“This issue is eminently solvable: give the NPA a complete database of all documents. There must be no excuses.”

Business is strongly committed to the rule of law. It is critical to a business environment that supports growth. This is why it supports the criminal justice system through initiatives like Business Against Crime and the memorandum of understanding with the NPA that enables business to fund technical expertise to support the NPA in building its cases, she notes.

“The NPA is gradually making progress. In August, we saw the appearance in court of Moroadi Cholota, who is the former personal assistant of former Free State Premier Ace Magashule.

“Cholota was successfully extradited from the US by the NPA to face charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering. She will face trial along with several co-accused, including Magashule, in 2025 regarding the Free State asbestos scandal.”

This is one example of the many cases the Zondo Commission explored and gathered evidence about. There are many others that could be progressing if the NPA was properly supported by other organs of the State, Mavuso emphasises.

Meanwhile, business also had a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa to review the progress of joint initiatives through Business For South Africa. However, the most recent unemployment rate of 33.5%, which is the highest since Covid-19 restrictions were in place, influenced the mood of the meeting and drove much discussion, she says.

Despite the sombre mood, the partnership has made significant progress, and the electricity crisis is the clearest success point with the Energy Action Plan having driven reforms and interventions that have largely led to the end of loadshedding.

Further, Ramaphosa subsequently signed amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act into law, which marked yet another step forward in the major overhaul of the electricity system, says Mavuso.

“The amended legislation enables the establishment of a competitive electricity market in which multiple suppliers can feed into the grid. It also substantially increases the penalties for anyone involved in the theft of cables who can now receive fines of up to R5-million and ten years in prison. Both changes will be important in stabilising supply,” she notes.

Additionally, the other area where much work is happening is on the logistics front, where progress has been good but not as speedy as in electricity.

“There is a good plan that has been drawn up and agreed upon, which includes interventions such as the opening of infrastructure for the private sector to invest and operate, but progress has been slow.

“This was noted as a concern in the meeting and all partners committed to resolving the blockages, particularly at State-owned Transnet, and accelerating progress,” says Mavuso.

The meeting between business and Ramaphosa acknowledged the good progress made, with credit given to the hard work of State-owned Eskom and the business team. There was a strong commitment made to continuing that progress.

The dreadful unemployment figures provide ample evidence of the urgency to moving things forward, she emphasises.