Charles Molele
President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is prepared to testify before the ongoing Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, if called to do so.
Ramaphosa told MPs Thursday that the public inquiry into state capture must be given space to do its work, but reiterated that he is willing and ready to testify before the commission.
“We welcome the firm support expressed by Bantu Holomisa for the work being done by the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and the commission into the Public Investment Corporation,” he said.
“The work of these commissions is absolutely necessary if we are to decisively end state capture and effectively fight corruption, and we call on all South Africans to give them their support,” Ramaphosa said.
“It is for that reason that I have stated publicly on several occasions that I am available and ready to testify before the Commission. That I am able and willing to do and it is an affirmation I reiterate today.”
Earlier this year, former Bosasa auditor Peet Venter told the Commission he personally paid R500 000 into a trust belonging to the Andile Ramaphosa foundation.
The cash was allegedly used to bankroll Ramaphosa’s campaign for ANC president in the run-up to the governing party’s elective conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg.
Ramaphosa’s submission is critical, particularly on the back of an affidavit filed by former president Jacob Zuma at the Constitutional Court in support of former SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane.
Zuma wrote that Ramaphosa served him “diligently as Deputy President” and would have been familiar with the most important decisions taken by cabinet and the Presidency.
Zuma is currently appearing before the commission into state capture.
On Monday, a visibly angry Zuma claimed there’s been a campaign to remove him for ANC leadership structures since the 90s.
He further claimed that there were three intelligence organizations involved in a campaign to “assassinate his character” because he had information on spies who had infiltrated the ANC.
Zuma claimed that former Premier of Limpopo, Ngoako Ramatlhodi and former Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda were recruited as spies by the apartheid regime’s security police.
A government insider said Zuma’s claims had far-reaching implications for the ANC in particular, and the country in general.
“These tell us that the ANC is a deeply divided party that has failed to overcome its past and transform into a modern political party – the liberation is an albatross that is holding it back.”
“The failure to deal with its past decisively has meant that it fails to lead the country to a future that it promises in documents such as the Reconstruction & Development Programme (RDP) and the National Development Plan (NDP), which draw inspiration from the Freedom Charter,” the insider said.
“This has serious implications for the country because it means that an ANC that is beholden to its past, cannot properly lead the country and get it out of the economic decline characterised by low economic growth, poverty and joblessness,” the source warned.
“I know him to be a person of commitment and integrity.”
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA ON PRAVIN GORDHAN
Responding to EFF leader Julius Malema’s question on Pravin Gordhan, Ramaphosa replied that he could not comment on the Public Protector’s report on the minister at this stage.
“That is a matter that is now before the courts,” he said.
However, Ramaphosa said Gordhan is a principled man who endured enormous pressure under apartheid, and if he has to answer an allegations, he must do so without exception and that this must be done in line within the law and due process.
“I have appointed him to a critical and demanding position in Cabinet because I know him to be a person of commitment and integrity. He has endured and withstood extreme pressure – both under apartheid and in the democratic era.
“He has been under pressure to abandon principle and to forsake his responsibility to this nation. If Minister Gordhan – or any member of this administration – has anything to answer for, they must be held to account, without exception.”
He added: “They must be held before any court and they must go and answer. But allow that determination to be made by the appropriate judicial institution after due process. Let the law take its course,” Ramaphosa underlined.
On DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s assertions that broad-based black economic empowerment should be scrapped, Ramaphosa was emphatic: “Honourable Maimane, we are not going to scrap BEE.”
He added that there “can be no peace without social justice… Redress is not some call to a higher morality. It is the interest of justice.”
Ramaphosa emphasized that BEE has brought real material benefit to black South Africans and women.
And despite its shortcomings, BEE has significantly contributed to the growth of the black middle class and the local economy, the president added.
“Whilst we acknowledge that the pace of change has been slow, it has not been insignificant.”
“Far from abolishing it, now is actually the time to strengthen it, to make it more effective and to ensure that it is aligned with our efforts to promote investment and increase employment,” the president said.
