Investigating Directorate

Empowered to investigate and prosecute high level and complex corruption, including common law and statutory offences. These include commercial crimes such as fraud, forgery, uttering and theft. Statutory offences related to legislation covered by the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998, Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004, Protection of Constitutional Democracy and Terrorist and Related Activities Act 33 of 2004, the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999, Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003, and crimes covered by the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001.

The ID also deals with referrals arising from public commissions of enquiries in criminal activities that involve prominent figures in government departments, State Owned Entities (SOEs), and the private sector. The ID is also mandated to investigate referrals from the following commissions:

• Commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture, corruption, and fraud in the public sector including organs of state promulgated under President’s Proclamation No. 3 of 2018 published in Government Gazette of 24 May 2018
• Commission of inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance by the South African Revenue Services (SARS) established by Presidential Proclamation No. 17 of 2018 published in Government Gazette No. 41562 of 24 May 2018
• Commission of inquiry into allegations for impropriety regarding the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) established under Presidential Proclamation No. 30 of 2018, published in Government Gazette No. 41979 of 17 October 2018, and
• Any other serious high profile or complex cases of corruption referred to the ID by National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in accordance with Section 28 (1) (b) of the NPA Act

The Investigating Directorate (ID) is a specialised and​ ​multidisciplinary unit within the NPA, established by Proclamation 20 of 2019 of the President in accordance with section 7 of the NPA Act published on 4 April 2019. The anti-corruption entity is premised on cooperation and collaboration with other law enforcement agencies to ensure integration, accountability, and alignment of priorities for the realisation of government's objective to effectively address corruption, in accordance with the relevant policy direction and legislation.

Through a project approach and prosecution-led investigation, the ID houses under one umbrella specialist professionals, including prosecutors, financial and criminal investigators, data analysts, cyber forensics specialists, project managers, and the entire corporate services. Of these officials, include secondments from other law enforcement agencies, such as South African Police Services (SAPS), State Security Agency (SSA), Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, South African Revenue Services (SARS), and Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) all pulling together to clean up the country from the systematic rot of white-collar crimes.​

The powers and functions of the ID are set out in chapter 5 of the NPA Act, they include the power to:

• subpoena witnesses to furnish documents or to answer questions
• apply for and execute search and seizure warrants
• compel witnesses to answer questions under oath, including self-incriminating questions, subject to a use immunity
• prosecute cases after consultation with the relevant DPP in whose jurisdiction the matter will appear