- The NPA has reflected on the progress it has made since it announced in March the state capture cases it would focus on.
- At the time, National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi said they intend to prosecute nine "seminal" state capture cases within six months.
- Spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said while the NPA was hard at work it was not possible for SA to "prosecute itself out of decades of corruption".
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said its six-month priority plan to deal with state capture and high-level corruption was on track.
The NPA, in a joint statement with the Hawks on Friday evening, said it had aimed to take decisive and visible action against high-level corruption and state capture.
The NPA said there had been progress in a number of cases, including the Vrede dairy farm scandal, SA Express, and the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela museum, among others.
"The cases listed are seminal because they exemplify the workings of state capture, involving accused persons from both government and the private sector, who allegedly played vital roles in repurposing state institutions, syphoning off public funds for private gain and committing the most damaging forms of high-level corruption, including crimes committed as part of the state capture project," the NPA's statement read.
Previously, National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi had said the state capture inquiry had unveiled the need for an urgent response to criminality.
The nine cases tackled by the NPA and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, include:
- The arrest and court appearance of former Free State agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane and two co-accused this week.
- The arrest and court appearance of former national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane. He appeared at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for corruption charges in the Crime Intelligence Division in 2016.
- In the R398.4 million Transnet corruption case, former CEO and CFO Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh, among others, were charged with contravention of the PFMA and fraud. Former CEO Siyabonga Gama was charged in May
- Five people charged with fraud concerning the misappropriation of funds at the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Museum.
NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said: "Transnet is one of the primary and emblematic sites of massive looting of state funds at the peak of the state capture era. Enrolling these cases is an important milestone and outcome of our complex investigations."
He said while the NPA was hard at work to deliver accountability, it was impossible "to prosecute ourselves out of decades of state capture".