Forget the Hawks - Paul Hoffman SC says SA needs "The Eagles"

Global expert Dr Mark Shaw's evidence to the Madlanga Commission this week confirmed what many suspected: South Africa is now among the most corrupt, crime-riddled states in the world, and the very institutions meant to fight back — the SAPS, NPA, Hawks, IPID — are compromised or unfit for purpose. In this piece, Paul Hoffman SC of Accountability Now revisits the Constitutional Court's decade-old warning and proposes a solution: a single, independent, constitutionally entrenched anti-corruption body, outside executive control, nicknamed "The Eagles." It would absorb the SIU, take over IPID's corruption caseload, and strip organised-crime functions from SAPS and the NPA entirely..By Paul Hoffman*.The admirable team of evidence leaders at the Madlanga Commission deserve high praise for securing and presenting the evidence of Dr Mark Shaw, the Geneva-based guru on organised crime and serious corruption, who happens to be a South African. He is the executive director of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime or GI-TOC.The extensive worldwide scientific research work on organised crime and corruption done by Dr Shaw and his associates at GI-TOC reveals that SA is in deep trouble when it comes to assessing the topics of his research. SA is the most corrupt country in Southern Africa and finds itself in the top ten in the world when it comes to the prevalence of organised crime and corruption. Dr Shaw gave evidence at the Madlanga commission on 3rd September 2026. He spoke to a report that was prepared by his team especially for the commission. The report ( LINK: https://we.tl/bUzG6FD5Uv6OMBB with the password: SHAW@2026!! ) and his evidence as part of the running record of the commission are available, the latter on the website of the commission. Shaw ranges over everything from the 2010 corruption conviction of the former chief of police, Jackie Selebi, to the sale of firearms to gangsters by members of the police, a matter under investigation by Lt. Col. Charl Kinnear at the time of his assassination in September 2020. His assassination is still under investigation six years later.The complaints made by Lt. Gen N Mkhwanazi in July 2025, that led to the appointment of the Madlanga commission, appear to be sufficiently well-founded to justify urgent remedial action. As long ago as 2014 the then Chief Justice complained on behalf of the majority of justices then in the Constitutional Court, (before the notion of “state capture” was common coinage in SA) that:“Corruption is rife in this country, and stringent measures are required to contain this malady before it graduates into something terminal. We are in one accord that South Africa needs an agency dedicated to the containment and eventual eradication of the scourge of corruption. We also agree that the entity must enjoy adequate structural and operational independence to deliver effectively and efficiently on its core mandate.” The essence of the problems around grand corruption and organised crime is that SA, in its institutional structures and its operations against organised crime and serious corruption, is ill-equipped to counter both phenomena using the services currently available. The SAPS, NPA, SARS, FIC, IPID and even supposedly specialised units like the Hawks (DPCI) and the deeply unconstitutional IDAC are not structured or equipped for the tasks at hand. Using any or all or any combination of these institutions is futile because, as the research done by Dr Shaw indicates, the corrupt and the organised criminals hold sway over them. Collaboration between gangs, syndicates of criminals and those employed by the state to counter them is rife as the evidence before the commission shows. Politicians, senior officials and the leadership of the anti-corruption machinery of state in SA have severely compromised the capacity of the state to deal with organised crime and grand corruption effectively and efficiently. The malady of which the learned Chief Justice complained twelve years ago could indeed be in danger of graduating into something terminal. The last three presidents and too many of those they lead are compromised by scandals involving serious criminality: Mbeki had his four expensive arms deals; Zuma had the Gupta brothers and state capture and even Ramaphosa, the chief beneficiary of BEE, has his problems around the Phala Phala debacle and, more recently, the Dlamini-Zuma accusations of vote buying by the ANC hierarchy at its elective conferences. The current minister of police is on extended gardening leave, his cabinet colleague, the minister of justice, who is not a lawyer, believes that the NPA is an independent institution. It is not.Putting foxes in charge of the henhouse is not the right way to promote peace, progress and prosperity for all who live in the henhouse which we call home.The difficulty is that while there are many dedicated employees of the state, especially those in the criminal justice administration, who could counter the waves of organised crime and corruption in SA, we lack the institutional framework to render them effective and efficient in the necessary and long overdue work involved in cleaning up the country’s act on organised crime and serious corruption. That institutional framework needs to be put in place most urgently both at structural and operational levels.Serious and far-reaching reforms are needed to free up the many good cops and prosecutors of SA who are currently hobbled and frustrated by the pervasive rot in the institutions of state that they serve.The all new single specialist body to which the Chief Justice referred in the passage quoted above is required. Populated by trained personnel who have guaranteed resources and secure tenure of office in a single body “outside executive control” (as the Constitutional Court put it in the Glenister litigation) “to deal with corruption effectively.” Let’s nick-name it “The Eagles” to distinguish it in its primacy, usefulness, size and ferocity from the Hawks.All functions relating to countering organised crime and serious corruption have to be summarily removed from the existing machinery of state in SAPS and the NPA for transfer to the Eagles.The recruitment of the Eagles must be effected in the manner suggested in the judgment of Justice Cameron in the final Glenister case. Government would be well advised to ensure that every recruit undergoes a lifestyle audit administered by the Auditor General. Lie detector testing and the sophisticated forms of integrity and aptitude testing used in the private sector must be done to ensure that the unsuitable are not recruited to serve in the Eagles. Recruitment must not be limited to the public sector; those in the private sector, especially former Scorpions and disillusioned experienced prosecutors should be encouraged to apply to join the Eagles. The entire Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which is not a part of the criminal justice administration, should be disbanded. SIU staff that qualify can be transferred to the Eagles, those that don’t and those who prefer not to become Eagles can be transferred to either the NPA or SAPS or elsewhere in government service. The assets of the SIU, its office space, vehicles and equipment can be transferred to the Eagles which will take over the civil debt recovery work currently carried out by the SIU. The executive will play no part in the structure and operations of the Eagles. The powers of the president in relation to the SIU will end upon its disbandment; incomplete work will be transferred to the Eagles if it involves organised crime or serious corruption. Any other matters in the hands of the SIU can be taken over by the SAPS as criminal complaints or the office of the public protector if no crime is suspected.All serious corruption cases currently under investigation by IPID will be transferred to the Eagles and IPID will in future confine itself to investigating complaints against police personnel that do not involve any element of serious corruption or organised crime (as defined by parliament in the legislation that establishes and enables the Eagles.)As was hinted at by the majority of the Constitutional Court in Glenister Two, the Eagles should establish their nest in the constitutional structures of Chapter Nine of the Constitution. (see paragraph 205 of the majority judgment). Here they will enjoy their independence “subject only to the Constitution and the law, and they must be impartial and must exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice.” The full protection of the provisions of section 181 of the Constitution will be available to the Eagles. They will be accountable to the National Assembly to which they will report at least once a year.No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the Eagles as spelt out in Section 181(4) of the Constitution.There are plenty of international precedents available to copy or adapt for the purpose of ensuring and guaranteeing the resources of the Eagles. Ne’er do well politicians and other nefarious parties should not be allowed to cut off or limit the resources of the Eagles..Read more:.Corruption is not only a crime, but a direct threat to human rights and democratic values: Paul Hoffman.The voters of SA must make it clear to all political parties that their support for the necessary legislative changes is not negotiable. Building the necessary political will to effect the reforms to which the evidence of Dr Shaw points should be regarded as a national priority. There is currently a battle in progress in SA between those committed to constitutional democracy under the rule of law and those bent on destroying the country using organised crime and serious corruption as their weapons of choice as they greedily enrich themselves by looting the coffers of the state, running drugs and engaging in dodge tenders.May the rule of law prevail..*Paul Hoffman SC A director of Accountability Now.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Forget the Hawks - Paul Hoffman SC says SA needs "The Eagles"

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