This, as the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) is calling on Batohi and the new unit set to investigate revelations made at the Zondo Commission to speedily deal with cases such as the VBS Mutual Bank saga, and the Bosasa scandal, amongst others. The party’s MP, Steven Swart, says it is unacceptable that taxpayers’ money is used by politicians to enrich themselves while South Africans have to bear the brunt of a lack of services.

Swart says they are concerned at the lack of progress into state capture investigations by these agencies. He says although this is mainly due to a lack of capacity - as these agencies lost a number of forensic investigators and other skilled staff under the former President Jacob Zuma’s administration - the time has come for them to pull up their socks. Swart says now that challenges faced by investigative agencies are being addressed, they are calling on them to take action and investigate cases of corruption that continue to cripple the country’s economy.

The DA in the Free State had previously appealed to Batohi to reinstate the Vrede Dairy corruption charges against the controversial Gupta family and their associates. The DA provincial leader and MP, Patricia Kopane, said following the evidence that came out at the Zondo Commission and bank statements leaked to the media, indicating how the Free State government deposited over R334 million into the Estina account within just two years, Batohi now has a leg to stand on.

The case against the controversial family was provisionally withdrawn last year in December due to insufficient evidence by the NPA. The family and their associates faced a string of charges including fraud, money laundering and corruption after allegations that R220 million earmarked to benefit 80 farmers in the Free State was syphoned off to their companies.

The NPA previously maintained that the money earmarked for the failed project was deposited in the Estina account, which ran the project and thereafter saved it in a pool account in the Bank of Baroda in India.

The DA in the province maintained that the law must stand and those implicated must be held accountable and appealed to Batohi to reinvestigate the matter as a matter of agency.

Swart told OFM News that they are extremely concerned that these state capture cases are taking a prolonged time to be investigated. He says it is unacceptable that there have not been any prosecutions following all the revelations made at the Zondo Commission.

“We want to see action taking place quickly. There is enough evidence now to arrest people. Why were the controversial Gupta family members not arrested before they left the country, and other implicated government officials?” asks Swart.

OFM News