South Africa and France have entered into a cooperation protocol agreement to improve the Special Investigating Unit\u2019s cyber forensic capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agreement is expected to also see the establishment of an anti-corruption academy in Tshwane, which will serve the SIU and other law enforcement agencies and anti-corruption agencies within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Commonwealth and Non-Commonwealth countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was signed by Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, and French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lamola said the cooperation agreement will add much-needed skills to strengthen the SIU\u2019s capacity in cyberforensic investigations, financial crimes and analytical skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are going to benefit a lot through this process of training that will enable our forensic cyber capabilities and investigations to be on par with the standards of the world and the globe because these types of crime are no longer just national, they are transnational in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo this kind of cooperation will definitely be of great value and help to us as a country to enhance our skills and be able to deal with the cybercrimes in the country. This will further boost confidence in the investment climate in our country that our cyberspace is safe and if anything happens, we will have the capabilities to investigate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The French Minister remarked that the agreement represents \u201ca window of what we are promoting in terms of bilateral cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis agreement will yield results beneficial to the South African citizens and possibly to all the SADC region. As a result of the close cooperation from the French experts, the SIU currently has 22 trained trainers who possess the capability to train other investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince the very early stages of our cooperation, members of the SIU have been to France and have had opportunities\u2026to see and experience the French expertise in the field of mostly cyber investigations. I call for those exchanges to grow,\u201d she said<\/p>\n\n\n\n