Democratic Alliance (DA) Justice and Constitutional Development spokesperson Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach said on Tuesday while her party expected an outright rejection of its two Private Member's Bills from “those who wish to remain unaccountable”, it was looking forward to rigorous engagements with the Justice Portfolio Committee and the public, aimed at ensuring that the best legislation is passed by Parliament.

The DA was briefing the Portfolio Committee on its proposed Bills – the Constitution 21st Amendment Bill and the Constitution 20th Amendment Bill – to bolster the fight against corruption and high-level crimes, as well as to urgently protect the country’s cybersecurity and the right to privacy from cybercrimes.

“The two Bills will, if passed, establish two Chapter 9 bodies, aimed at investigating, prosecuting and combatting corruption and strengthening cybersecurity respectively,” Breytenbach noted.

She highlighted that the two private members' Bills will test politicians’ commitment to fighting corruption and ensuring service delivery, stating that “there is no greater fraud than a promise not kept”.

Breytenbach stated that the Constitution 21st Amendment Bill or the Scorpions 2.0 Bill seeks to establish the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), a body that would be tasked with investigating and prosecuting serious corruption and high-level organised crime.

“As a Chapter 9 body, it will be independent of executive control, enjoy security of tenure, report only to Parliament, and have its budget determined by the National Treasury and not the Minister of Justice,” she explained.

Breytenbach said this Bill was directly aimed at correcting, what the DA saw as the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) failure to prosecute serious corruption and high-level organised crime, adding that the organisation was “hollowed out” during State capture.

She pointed to the Scorpions, which she said was a special directorate within the NPA, which was an effective body but was dissolved by politicians.

“Our Scorpions 2.0 Bill directly counteracts these problems by embodying the STIRS criteria set by the Glenister judgment - revitalising the paralysed State prosecution of serious corruption and organised crime,” added Breytenbach.

STIRS stands for specialised, trained, independent, resourced, and secure in tenure, with the criteria having been established in the 2011 Glenister II case, in which the Constitutional Court held that the State was constitutionally obligated to establish and maintain an independent agency to combat corruption.

Meanwhile, the DA’s proposed Constitution 20th Amendment Bill, also seeks to create a new Chapter 9 body, a specialised Cyber Commission.

Breytenbach said this was a “ground-breaking Bill” that would respond to the lack of government cybersecurity, amid an increase in reliance on cyber technology to carry out services to citizens.

She said the Cyber Commission would be tasked with supporting and strengthening democracy in South Africa by advising, monitoring and establishing cybersecurity capabilities in the public sector.