South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has re-established a permanent anti-corruption agency in Africa’s most industrialized nation in his official response to an investigation that blamed his ruling African National Congress for the country’s worst post-apartheid graft scandal.

Ramaphosa announced the overhaul in a televised address on Sunday as part of “a new chapter in our fight against corruption” after a decade of allegations of looting under Jacob Zuma, the former president blamed for blackouts and other woes that have crippled South Africa’s economy.

The government will make permanent a special branch of the national prosecution service to investigate the theft, known locally as “state capture”.

The move effectively revives a similar prosecutor’s office, the Scorpions, which was sterilized years ago by the ANC, which has ruled the country since 1994.

“This response represents an ethical, moral and institutional departure from the violations identified [by the inquiry]”, Ramaphosa said. “The people of South Africa are tired of corruption and want it to end,” he added.

An inquiry led by South Africa’s chief justice concluded this year that Zuma “opened the door” to the looting of energy monopoly Eskom by the Guptas, three brothers of Indian origin, and that he manipulated the national spy agency to harass political opponents. as part of the policy of destroying institutions.

Learn more about the South African Anti-Corruption Agency here.