CAPE TOWN An audit of the special investigating unit formerly headed by Judge Willem Heath, which has work on hand for the next three to four years, has resulted in a proposal for the unit to become the special forensic arm of the auditor-general's office.

The Heath unit hit the headlines when, on the recommendation of Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, President Thabo Mbeki refused to allow it to become part of the multiagency probe into allegations of corruption in the R43bn arms deal. Reasons given were the unit's workload and the Constitutional Court ruling that a judge heading an executive agency was in conflict with the constitution's separation of powers.

Special director of public prosecutions Jan Henning, who conducted the special audit of the unit, told Parliament's justice committee yesterday the backlog of work in proclamations already granted to the unit gave it "more work than it can handle for the foreseeable future."

Henning said a special investigating unit was needed. "It is depressing to read how much corruption is rife out there." SA could not afford to lose the excellent investigating skills and experience the unit had built up.

In his report to Maduna, Henning said many of the matters dealt with by the unit were previously dealt with by the auditorgeneral. "Had the auditor-general then been in a position to refer the matter to a unit for investigation and further action if necessary, matters could more expeditiously have been brought to finalisation.

"Having gone through the auditing process, the auditorgeneral would be in the best position to identify and prioritise matters, which should be dealt with by the special investigating unit. It should not be bogged down with trivialities; it should, furthermore, given the cumbersome process and stifling results, not be dependent on a proclamation for its jurisdictional operational basis," Henning said.

The law on the unit insists on a presidential proclamation before it can investigate any matter.

Henning praised the work of the unit under Heath. It recovered far more money than the state spent on it. The unit had a budget for 2000-01 of R18,6m and up to March had recovered R3,5m with R18,5m outstanding for the three months. In 19992000 the unit recovered R111m.

"Notwithstanding that the inflow of work was not properly managed the achievements and performance of the special investigating unit were, also from a financial perspective, quite impressive," he said.

With acknowledgment to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.