South African authorities claim to have recovered 8.3 billion rand (USD $519 million) in assets and funds connected to corruption, up from roughly R6 billion reported a year earlier, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has announced.
Speaking at an anti-corruption summit at the University of Johannesburg, Kubayi credited stronger cooperation between the Asset Forfeiture Unit, government agencies and the private sector, but warned that recovering stolen wealth alone was insufficient.
She called for lawyers, accountants and other professionals who facilitate corrupt schemes to face consequences.
The Special Investigating Unit separately recovered R936 million over the past year and has also intervened to halt questionable contracts. Critics welcomed the recoveries but argued that meaningful deterrence requires prosecutions and convictions, with some calling for a fully independent anti-corruption agency insulated from executive control.
