PHUTI MOSOMANE
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says it is opposed to the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) decision to accept private funding.
This follows confirmation by Justice Minister Ronald Lamola that NPA has been able to accept donor funding to help it prosecute high-profile and complex cases.
Last year, Lamola said this will only be done once the NPA has put protocols in place.
But the red berets came out guns blazing on Wednesday saying the move is equivalent to the sale of justice through external donor-funding, which has reportedly now reached R43 million.
“We vehemently oppose the NPA’s audacious decision to expose itself to glaring conflicts of interest, blatant influence, and flagrant compromises to the sacred principles of impartiality and fairness in the prosecutorial process,” EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said.
Despite sound objections from both the EFF and justice loving South Africans, the Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola has accepted R43-million from private donors, the party said.
The promised amended NPA donor funding policy guidelines have not been finalised, however deals have been signed with entities such as Business Leadership SA, along with other in-kind donations coming in from private donors.
The Business Leadership SA has also funded former Eskom CEO Andrè de Ruyter’s Intelligence driven investigations at the power utility.
“The ANC Government continuously engages in excessive fruitless expenditure as we have witnessed in the State Capture Commission.”
“This Commission was a daily horror soap opera to the tune of R1-Billion with no tangible results. So there are sufficient state resources for NPA to operate optimally. However, the ANC is incapable of governing effectively,” EFF’s Thambo said.
The party called for both the office of the Public Prosecutor and Attorney-General to immediately publish all donors of the R43-million as this is a matter of public interest.
“Any donor who has requested anonymity clearly does not have the best interests of justice at their core. It is best that they divert their donations to the eradication of pit toilets in schools,” he said.
EFF said It was important that all justice institutions must be fully funded by the state, ensuring their autonomy and enabling them to carry out their duties without external pressures and influence.
However, Thambo said the NPA’s insistence on receiving external funding is an egregious decision that will irrevocably undermine justice, perverting its very essence, and transforming it into a tool wielded by the wealthy and powerful.
The EFF said it will consider legal and parliamentary options to halt what it calls the insidious infiltration of the justice system by private donors.
“Under Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency, transparency has been grievously absent, surpassing any other era in recent memory,” he said.
The NPA has received a budget allocation of R4.9 billion in the financial year that ended in March.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said the party support the external funding of the NPA as long as it ensures that the NPA remains independent and that all tools are in place to monitor the funds.
“The NPA and other entities in the criminal justice system have always been funded externally- the budget has never been sufficient to fully fund any of the criminal justice institutions including the police.”
“As long as it’s carefully managed and no favours are done to anyone, then in our view there is nothing wrong with it,” Breytenbach said.
Lamola has assured the public that a centralised, internal register of all donations will be kept.
He said the NPA will disclose the donors in its annual financial statements in order to ensure transparency and accountability.
INSIDE POLITICS
