PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has implored members of the party and those deployed in government to engage and implement the recommendations that would come out of the State Capture commission of inquiry into state capture.
Addressing the two-day ANC NEC Lekgotla, Ramaphosa said they are anticipating that the commission will be scathing of the ANC and its government, especially on its cadre deployment policy which came under the spotlight when he appeared before the commission as both president of the party and that of the republic.
“We need to be ready to address these and develop concise messages before the report comes out. An important issue will be to engage with and prepare ourselves for implementation of the recommendations,” Ramaphosa told ANC NEC Lekgotla.
The inquiry was established three years ago by former president Jacob Zuma following a report by the public protector which found that the former president may have granted the powerful Gupta business family improper control of government functions, including the appointment of ministers.
The inquiry was also set up to investigate allegations of corruption, notably at state-owned companies such as Eskom and South African Airways (SAA), which are drowning in debt after years of mismanagement and maladministration.
The commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture, dubbed the Zondo Commission, completed its work last month with its chairperson, acting chief justice Raymond Zondo, expected to finalise its report next month.
“The ANC and this government will be criticised in the main due to an exaggeration of the role of the deployment committee and misrepresentation of its ambit, as well as for the management of the work our MPs do in parliament and parliamentary structures,” Ramaphosa said.
“Specific allegations have been levelled against leaders and deployees of the movement and there is a concerted drive to tie these allegations to the organisation and portray a picture of a corrupt and incompetent ANC and ANC government.”
The ANC NEC lekgotla is being attended by ANC leaders, ministers and their deputies, premiers and mayors.
“We need to be ready to address these and develop concise messages before the report comes out. An important issue will be to engage with and prepare ourselves for implementation of the recommendations,” he said.
Ramaphosa said that the ANC must not take for granted South Africans’ disappointment and unhappiness with the ANC government.
He also told the NEC lekgotla that a lot more focus must be placed on creating employment opportunities especially for the youth and that it had become clear that the current government policies aimed at eradicating poverty and joblessness were inadequate.
“It is increasingly clear that our current economic policies, programmes and plans are not sufficient in scope and scale to answer the challenges represented by widespread poverty and unemployment. There are at least 11-million unemployed people in SA, a number that grows annually,” said Ramaphosa.
“Too many people live below the poverty line, regardless of what metric is used to measure poverty. This means that too many of our people go to bed hungry every day.”
The July unrest could also be attributed to this and it showed how the elite could easily exploit the economic and social conditions of the poor.
- Inside Politics
