ACC acts on evidence, not vendettas – Noa

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will not investigate baseless allegations or claims rooted in personal vendettas and rumours, its outgoing director general said.

“What ACC shall never do is take action on allegations that are based on mere thumb-sucking, character assassination, witch-hunting and all those allegations that are not informed by evidence,” Paulus Noa said yesterday.

Noa, whose term is set to end this month, stressed that while the commission remains committed to rooting out corruption and acting "without fear or favour", investigations must be guided by credible evidence.

The ACC chief made the remarks during a stakeholder consultation on the draft National Anti-Corruption Strategy and National Ethics and Anti-Corruption Policy Framework in Rundu on Thursday.

“We have also investigated allegations of corrupt practices and where evidence was found substantiating the allegations, actions were taken without fear or favour. We just continue to do that with intensity,” Noa said.

At the same time, he warned that rejecting unsupported allegations should not be mistaken for leniency.

“Where allegations have been proven by evidence, no matter how big or small the suspect might be, no matter how long it may take to conclude investigations, when the time arrives, we shall pounce on the culprits,” he said.

Many flavours of corruption

Noa added that corruption is often misunderstood as conduct limited to cases that end up in court, saying many damaging practices thrive within public institutions through negligence, abuse of authority and poor administration.

“Corruption is a broader evil phenomenon, and this is perpetrated in different ways and means,” he said.

He said officials who are entrusted with public responsibilities but fail to deliver services while continuing to draw salaries weaken governance and public confidence.

“Mismanagement of resources. Negligence. You are given the responsibility to run the office but instead you are just neglecting and not rendering service to the people,” he said.

“You are being remunerated for the service that you do not render, but that may not necessarily find its day in the criminal court.”

Noa also highlighted what he described as corruption embedded in administrative decisions, particularly the misuse of workshops and training opportunities.

“Have you not seen it? People going for workshop training that is not relevant to what they are doing,” he said.

He said some managers approve workshops and training opportunities for friends or preferred employees despite such programmes having little relevance to their duties, largely to secure allowances or for personal benefit.

“You are assigning somebody because he is your friend and you want your friend to benefit from that thing and indirectly for yourself to benefit from that thing,” Noa said.

“You assign this person, but the type of training offered there has nothing to do with the department where that person is operating. That is corruption.”

He raised concerns over recruitment practices, saying favouritism and nepotism continue to undermine fairness within institutions.

“You justify by all means why this one is appointed and not the other one who was the best candidate in the recruitment process,” he said.

“How do you call that? That’s the worst type of corruption.”

While acknowledging that some of these practices may not necessarily result in criminal prosecution, Noa said institutions have a responsibility to intervene administratively before misconduct becomes entrenched.

Joint anti-graft fight

Beyond enforcement, the outgoing ACC chief stressed that fighting corruption is a shared national responsibility rather than the sole mandate of the ACC.

"It is a national strategy where all institutions have certain activities or tasks assigned to them,” he said.

“A national anti-corruption strategy cannot be developed in isolation from the rest of society, who will, in the end, be affected by its implementation,” Noa said.

“It therefore calls for consultation, collaboration and coordination with all stakeholders.”

The Rundu engagement forms part of consultations to develop the third National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan for 2026–2030 following the expiry of the previous framework in March.