Cachalia recommends forming agency targeting organised crime, protecting whistleblowers

Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia is recommending the establishment of another agency that will target organised crime and also protect whistleblowers.

Cachalia said the country’s crime-fighting needs new capabilities to be able to tackle widespread corruption in areas like procurement in addition to agencies like the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

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Cachaliamade the recommendation on Wednesday while giving evidence before Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating police corruption.

The acting police minister said one of their initiatives, as the country embarks on police reforms, is the creation of another special corruption fighting unit.

He said that the crime fighting body will be different from the Hawks and the SIU, which relie on presidential proclamations for investigations.

Cachalia said it’s a good time for the country to look at creating new institutions to rebuild capacity.

“What we’ve said is we need to establish this new body; we need new capabilities.”

He said the capabilities of the SIU need a boost.

“They are limited to exercising powers that the president has conferred by proclamation. That’s not optimal. You need a body that can investigate matters without presidential proclamation. You need a body that can deal with whistleblowing. We don’t have such institutions in place at the moment.”

Cachalia said their proposal is to build on the powers and functions of the SIU by adopting a new statute.

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