Corruption Watch and experts highlight attempts to eliminate investigators

A series of assassination attempts on investigators in South Africa has cast a dark shadow over the nation’s anticorruption efforts, according to civil society.

These targeted attacks threaten to derail key investigations and discourage future efforts, posing a significant challenge to those who are committed to rooting out corruption.

Corruption Watch’s Karam Singh highlighted the increasing violence surrounding the crime and corruption situation in the country.

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“We now have this security challenge that implicates those involved in investigations.

“It can frustrate anticorruption efforts because the need for investigations currently outstrips our capacity. Successful investigations are run by professionals committed to their job and ensuring no stone is left unturned.

“The problem is, if you take out those investigators, it’s very difficult for the system to pick up where they left off. This can stifle successful investigations and have a chilling effect on the anticorruption environment,” said Singh.

This concern arises following the attempted assassination of SA Revenue Service (Sars) advocate Coreth Naudé, who is involved in several high-profile investigations.

This incident follows the murder of City of Joburg investigator Zenzele Benedict Sithole earlier this month.

There have been hits on liquidators Cloete and Thomas Murray last year and Gauteng health department’s Babita Deokaran in August 2021.

Multiple incidents

Targeted killings in South Africa are not new.

Moses Phakoe, a whistle-blower, was shot dead at his home in Rustenburg North in March 2009 after handing over a record detailing municipal corruption to high-ranking ANC officials.

Xola Banisi was gunned down in September 2014 after approaching the Hawks and the public protector about corruption related to two tenders at Bloem Water.

“We need to build a protective framework and potentially consider extending resources around VIP security to people under threat.

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“We need clear protocols around risk profiling of sensitive investigations. These could be investigations led by the police, the Special Investigating Unit, the auditor-general or Sars.

“If the risk is high and there is a threat, we need to allocate resources and capacity to insulate the investigators from those who would seek to frustrate them, whether through intimidation or actual threats,” Singh added.

According to a 2022 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime, titled Strategic Organised Crime Risk Assessment, organised crime in South Africa is highly connected, diverse, entrepreneurial, embedded and violent.

The report said the violence has become increasingly professionalised in SA and further indicated an increase in organised crime in the previous 10 years.

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Independent crime expert Chris de Kock agreed that the recent killing of professionals and investigators was a typical characteristic of organised crime.

“What we are seeing is organised crime. Corruption and organised violence are key shapers of the strategic evolution of organised crime in SA.

“One of the characteristics of organised crime is to eliminate any threat that is close to uncovering the crimes and this is what we are seeing,” he noted.

He said the extent of this corruption and criminality was wide. There are specific characteristics, such as corruption, blackmail and operating across international and state boundaries.

“It’s not only whistle-blowers or officials investigating someone who are at risk. Anyone perceived as opposition to these criminal syndicates can become a target.