CAPE TOWN — One man holds the anti-corruption push-back in his palm of his hands, regardless of multiple highly laudable initiatives. The latest push, a special tribunal overseeing all State probes and consisting of nine judges, one for each province, will speed up the Special Investigations Unit's ability to claw back stolen money and freeze illegally acquired assets. However, one easily forgets that if any of the probes cause anti-corruption pivot, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his executive significant political discomfort, he can legally close them down. That's the fatal flaw in all of this wonderful fumigation of Zuptoid and other State infestation. As Advocate Paul Hoffman, SC, founder of Accountability Now says, there's a Concourt ruling that executive control of the anti-corruption machinery is simply not on. Rather a stand-alone Integrity Commission that once and for all stops the scourge of political interference, says Hoffman. To be presided over for three years by Judge Gidfonia Mlindelwa Makhanya, the Tribunal will enable the SIU to bypass time-consuming applications to the High Court for an order to attach or seize. This will help confound the scoundrels paying lawyers millions in ill-gotten gains to delay and obfuscate matters – and win Ramaphosa those all-important political points. – Chris Bateman
