People had no confidence in the three-agency arms deal investigation because the agencies involved lacked independence, ousted corruption-buster Willem Heath said on Wednesday.

Heath, who left the judiciary after long hostility between himself and the government, said independence was the key to any successful investigation.

He told a Cape Town Press Club luncheon that if the media and the community perceived the offices of the public protector, auditor-general and national directorate of public prosecutions not to be free of political affiliation, this would be a problem because the agencies would not be able to do their work properly.

He said corruption was extremely serious under the pre-1994 government, but was worse now, because sophisticated international criminal bodies were operating in SA, and the government had employed many inexperienced people who were easily seduced into corruption.

With acknowledgment to Clive Leviey-Sawyer and The Star.