Members of the Ad Hoc Committee Investigating Allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Provincial Police Commissioner Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi yesterday deliberated extensively over the future of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC).
A submission made by the Democratic Alliance (DA) called for IDAC to be dissolved and replaced by an independent institution outside the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). the The uMkhonto WeSizwe Party supported this position.
Committee member Adv Glynnis Breytenbach said her party (the DA) believes that IDAC should be shuttered and an independent anti-corruption commission appointed instead, one that sits outside of the NPA. She added that the NPA should also have greater operational and financial independence, including control over its own budget. “They should no longer source their budget from the Department of Justice but should … negotiate the terms of their own budget directly with the [National] Treasury,” she said.
Committee member Mr David Skosana of the uMkhonto WeSizwe Party supported the view to disband IDAC, saying that the IDAC was unnecessary and should not continue operating. “IDAC, I must re-emphasise once again, must close. We can do without IDAC,” he said.
The Economic Freedom Fighters, the African National Congress and Action SA all opposed this position, however. Committee member Ms Leigh-Ann Mathys (EFF) argued that corruption and institutional capture could affect any organisation, and that oversight mechanisms and legislation should rather be strengthened to prevent this from happening.
“We all had high hopes, and look what happened to it. It had so much to do with it not having enough independence. It was pretty much that it was captured, and it can happen to any entity that is existing and that we bring into existence,” said Ms Mathys.
Her position was supported by committee member, Mr Julius Malema (EFF) who said: “There’s nothing wrong with IDAC. It was behaving in a manner it did because there was no structure playing an oversight over it, and therefore, it was a power unto itself,” he told MPs. Mr Malema went on to say that the appointment of retired judge Takalani Joseph Raulinga – to provide oversight over IDAC – will go a long way in ensuring accountability. “The problem is not the institution. The problem is the individuals occupying it, along with the lack of early detection mechanisms to hold them immediately accountable.”
Another committee member, Mr Mdumiseni Ntuli (ANC), also favoured this view. “There was something fundamentally wrong with the incumbents, and the best way to deal with that situation will not be to close the entire institution, but to deal with the elements that are within,” Mr Ntuli emphasised.
Committee member Ms Dereleen James’s (Action SA) position was that the problem should be addressed through stronger oversight, monitoring and vetting, rather than abolishing the institution altogether.
Rajaa Azzakani
1 October 2026
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