By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have agreed to establish a technical working group to resolve the impasse over access to State Capture database.
The department was at loggerheads with the NPA over access to a database with crucial State Capture evidence.
In a joint statement on Friday, December 20, 2024, both DOJ and NPA said they held “constructive discussions” on Wednesday, with regard to Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) request to access information in the state capture commission repository.
The parties have agreed to strengthen their collaboration with a view to resolving all outstanding issues pertaining to IDAC access and to facilitate efficient and effective response to all IDAC requests.
The parties also have agreed to set up a technical working group from both sides that will immediately start working on all the urgent issues to ensure that IDAC carries out its mandate without any challenges,” read the statement.
“The meeting was led by DoJ Director-General Advocate Doctor Mashabane and National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Advocate Shamila Batohi. Both leaders emphasized the importance of collaboration in strengthening South Africa’s anti-corruption framework.
During the course of the commission when the IDAC was proclaimed, there was an issue about its access to some evidence and material the commission would have collected. That led to what Regulation 11 that regulated how the IDAC would access some information that would have been ventilated before the commission or the investigators in the commission would have come across.
At the end of the mandate of the commission, when former chief justice Raymond Zondo submitted a final report to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Regulation 11 fell away.
Officials from the NPA and the ID were trained on how to access some information in the data centre. As part of the process, the Treasury had to transfer some capabilities linked to the data centre where data was managed digitally.
The centre required a licence and the Treasury in some cases assisted in the procurement of the licences, and the department took responsibility for those that had expired.