The Democratic Alliance cautiously welcomes the appointment of Adv Ntuthuzelo Vanara as Acting Head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC).
Given the uncertainty and serious challenges that have surrounded IDAC, it is important that the institution has leadership and that there is accountability for its operations. We therefore hope that Adv Vanara will bring renewed focus, professionalism and urgency to the work of the Directorate during his tenure.
However, an acting appointment should be precisely that - a short-term interim arrangement.
Acting appointments should be kept brief and should not become a substitute for permanent leadership. Prolonged acting appointments create uncertainty, undermine institutional stability and can contribute to an institution losing focus and direction. The fight against corruption cannot afford further institutional drift.
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The DA therefore calls for a permanent solution to the leadership question to be dealt with expeditiously and transparently.
More fundamentally, however, the DA remains of the view that IDAC itself has become too deeply compromised to provide the credible, independent anti-corruption machinery that South Africa requires.
The DA's position is that IDAC should ultimately be dissolved and replaced by a properly constituted, genuinely independent Anti-Corruption Commission, established with appropriate constitutional and legislative safeguards to protect it from political interference.
South Africa needs an anti-corruption body that has the independence, resources, investigative capacity and public credibility necessary to pursue corruption wherever it occurs - including within the highest levels of government and the criminal justice system.
While we cautiously welcome the appointment of Adv Vanara, we will judge his tenure by its actions and outcomes, not simply by the appointment itself.
The DA will continue to exercise rigorous parliamentary oversight over IDAC and the broader criminal justice system. South Africans deserve an anti-corruption institution that is focused, independent and effective - and ultimately, that requires a fundamental rethink of the current model.
