What a good dose of political will can do for anti-corruption

Political will is widely heralded as the spark behind the success of a successful anti-corruption project. Yet it is difficult to ignite and even harder to retain. Might South Africa be offering us a rare success story…

By Colette Ashton, Institute for Security Studies

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has tried to lead anti-corruption reforms without destabilizing a fragile young democracy. Impact has been minimal––until very recently, that is.   

I saw the change first-hand: Working for South Africa’s National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council of South Africa (NACAC) from 2023 to 2025 I got a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what can happen to an anti-corruption project that appears to be lifeless and toothless–– when a good dose of political will appears, seemingly out of the blue. 

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First, some background to the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council of South Africa 

South Africa endured its infamous period of state capture under former President Jacob Zuma from 2009 to 2018. It was characterized by a corrupt strategic deal with Russia for a new nuclear power plant; a fightback from civil society to overturn the nuclear deal in court; and rolling electricity blackouts that badly damaged the economy. South Africans also experienced gangs like the ‘water mafia’ stepping into the gap left by decaying government services to sell bottles of water to impoverished rural residents. This decade of misrule saw the swift hollowing out of state institutions, as competent civil servants were bullied or fired, or both.  

NACAC was appointed in September 2022 to advise President Ramaphosa on necessary anti-corruption reforms. Its three-year mandate was to conduct research, consult experts, and make recommendations. In particular, it was to design the new anti-corruption agency that South Africans had been waiting for.

As an advisory council to the President, NACAC was not a civil society organization––but a part of government. Its work was thus confidential, as most government work is. It was not allowed to publish the many Advisories sent to the President’s office––or even brief the media.  

All its work was to be summarized in the 850-plus page Final Report. It seemed that, despite civil society’s demands for transparency, this document would also remain secret. 

Fears that NACAC’s three-year mandate and the Final Report were a waste of time and effort 

NACAC was constituted by a typically South African array of diversity––of ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation and religion. The Councillors served mostly on a voluntary basis, often working after hours and on weekends. Many had been involved in the anti-apartheid struggle and in negotiations for the creation of a democratic South Africa. During NACAC’s deliberations, the Councillors re-enacted this tradition of late-night arguments around meeting tables with bad coffee and long, drawn out negotiated outcomes.  

But when NACAC sent its recommendations to the President, it was far from clear whether he had received them. As a technical expert supporting government institutions to develop and implement anti-corruption programmes and strategies, I write many documents. Sadly, they often end up on a dusty shelf in a quiet room. It seemed to me then that the Final Report was heading towards the same fate.  

Indeed, NACAC faced a big PR problem: there was no record of its work activities in the public domain. This lack of transparency about a subject as controversial as corruption created a trust deficit. During NACAC's term of office, public support was haemorrhaged, particularly from South Africa’s vociferous civil society organizations that had been active in bringing down the notoriously corrupt former president Jacob Zuma.  

But then politics intervened. And in a very dramatic way 

One day, in an incident unrelated to the work of NACAC, a high-ranking police official, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, appeared on national television in combat fatigues, surrounded by a small army of rifle-wielding men. Looking like the organizer of a coup d’etat, the general claimed to be blowing the whistle on top-level corruption inside the national police.  

He alleged that organized crime cartels had penetrated government––implicating members of parliament, police leadership and the Minister of Police. This alarming event made him an immediate public hero: an important official calling out the corruption that everyone knows is rife. 

Realizing the potential danger of a popular uprising, the usually calm President Cyril Ramaphosa acted swiftly. He suspended the implicated police minister and launched a judicial commission of inquiry into the general’s allegations. He also appointed a new Minister of Police to serve in the Cabinet. To the surprise of everyone, this was the Chairperson of NACAC, Professor Firoz Cachalia.

Cachalia is widely regarded as a thoughtful academic with a strong pedigree as an anti-apartheid activist. After serving as a provincial head of the policing portfolio, he retreated into academia before his appointment to NACAC. Though quiet and understated, Cachalia is a steely, ethical and incorruptible adversary. He shows none of the greed and venality of many of his former comrades.  

"This appointment was a master stroke: giving Cachalia three years to carry out in-depth research on anti-corruption, and then using a crisis to parachute him into a powerful executive role to implement reform." 

A very smart power move 

Was the move part of the President’s long-term anti-corruption agenda? Or was it a skilful manipulation of serendipitous events? A master tactician who helped steer South Africa through its precarious transition to democracy, President Ramaphosa is adept at turning crisis into opportunity. Here, he succeeded in strengthening the anti-corruption forces in Cabinet at a time of potential national crisis, demonstrating the political will to support real anti-corruption reform. 

And Cachalia was game. 'My entire life has led to this point,' he later reflected, when giving evidence before a parliamentary committee meeting into allegations of corruption in the police.  

Finalizing the report and the launch ceremony: an outcome to celebrate 

Against the backdrop of this political drama, the normally tedious tasks of finishing the report had become exhilarating! The late nights and working weekends had produced recommendations that could immediately translate into government policy. It taught me, as a technical expert in anti-corruption used to protracted processes and toothless outcomes, that the political landscape can change overnight. And those recommendations buried in a report that sits on the shelf today could surface and be implemented tomorrow. The work matters––all of it. 

The official ceremony to mark the launch of the Final Report was fresh and exciting. The political mood had shifted. There were no political charades and, astonishingly, an unredacted version of the report appeared on the Presidency’s website.  

The Deputy Minister of Justice, Andries Nel, mounted the podium and implored passionately: ‘Stand up. We are going to recite the preamble of the Constitution together.’  

These words encapsulate the remedy for corruption. They commit the state to uphold democratic values, social justice and fundamental rights; they promise to improve the quality of life of citizens; and they oblige the state to establish a strong, independent anti-corruption agency.  

In conclusion: some ingredients for success 

On 12 February 2026, President Ramaphosa gave his annual State of the Nation Address, in which he outlined unprecedented hardline measures against corruption and organized crime. Critically, he committed the government to deliver on NACAC’s key recommendation for the urgent establishment of a permanent, independent, overarching anti-corruption agency.  

Mandating a powerless council to come up with anti-corruption reform proposals, then catapulting the chief architect of this recommendation from an advisory council into Cabinet, where he has real power to implement recommendations, could prove to have been a highly effective strategy for kick-starting South Africa’s new anti-corruption agency.  

This was a moment that anti-corruption activists struggle and hope for. Whether by design or happy coincidence, this was real political will––an ingredient that can change everything.

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Colette Ashton is a South African lawyer working at the intersection of anti-corruption, cross-border financial flows, and complex asset disputes. Her work spans both public integrity matters and private disputes involving international assets, with a focus on responsible and strategic resolution.