president ramaphosa on corruption
President Ramaphosa. Photo: DA

Home » President’s Vow to Fight Against Corruption Met with Skepticism

President’s Vow to Fight Against Corruption Met with Skepticism

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s seven-page letter to his ‘comrades’ in the ANC yesterday has been met with much skepticism around the country. The letter, which holds hope and promise, begins with a bold heading in capitals – “Let this be a turning point in our fight against corruption”. The letter details the public’s “sense of anger […]

By SAPeople
24-08-20 13:44
in Featured
president ramaphosa on corruption
President Ramaphosa. Photo: DA

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s seven-page letter to his ‘comrades’ in the ANC yesterday has been met with much skepticism around the country. The letter, which holds hope and promise, begins with a bold heading in capitals – “Let this be a turning point in our fight against corruption”.

The letter details the public’s “sense of anger and disillusionment” at reports of corruption within the ANC in its response to the coronavirus pandemic; and acknowledges that the corruption of those who want to enrich themselves is an “unforgivable betrayal” of millions of South Africans negatively impacted by the covid virus.

The President said: “As President of the African National Congress, as part of the national leadership collective, I am fully aware of the decisive mandate we have been given by #ANC54 to end all forms of corruption, and to renew and rebuild our movement. This is the mandate I intend to fulfil.”

Some detractors pointed out that the lengthy letter omitted any reference to an immediate, independent investigation and prosecution of those ANC members involved in the corruption. Others said the “rotten” members that the ANC wants to root out likely refers to scapegoats rather than NEC members.

Jacques Maree said on Sunday: “I’ve been away from Twitter for the afternoon. Has our cabinet resigned in shame yet? Or have they decided they only need to hang their heads for a day or two?”

Some said they couldn’t take Ramaphosa’s pledge seriously in a week in which former Mayor of Ethekwini, Zandile Gumede – who was removed from her position last year in the face of tender corruption charges to the value of R400 million – was sworn in as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature costing the taxpayer R1.1 million per year.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said: “President Ramaphosa, corrupt cadres must be jailed, not given a harsher slap on the wrist.”

Steenhuisen said the lengthy letter is a “word salad when President Ramaphosa has demonstrated, most recently, that corrupt cadres continue to be rewarded within his party, and not removed from their positions and punished in accordance with the law of the country.

“Similarly, ANC Secretary General, Ace Magashule, faced no consequences following the awarding of Covid-19 supply procurement tenders to his two sons, Tshepiso and Thato, to the value of R2,7 million. This further demonstrates that the ANC’s Integrity Commission is toothless.”

The DA Leader said: “President Ramaphosa must lay charges of corruption against his own party members and suspend them immediately, not allow the Integrity Commission to dish out a warning and a reward package.

“This is not a turning point in the ANC’s fight against corruption. This is a longer deflection mechanism from the fact that the ANC still cannot and will not deal decisively with its own corruption.

“Ramaphosa is paralysed. He remains a spectator to his own party whose corruption has rotted the organisation so deeply, and so insidiously, that it cannot be effectively rooted out without the ANC’s complete self-implosion.

“At this stage, the cost of truly dealing with the ANC’s corruption, is the purge of the entire party – something which Cyril Ramaphosa still will not risk at the expense of his country. It is once again, the ANC over South Africa. We have seen this movie before, President Ramaphosa, and we know how it will end. We are tired.”

Steenhuisen plans to compile a list of each ANC member and public servant facing allegations of corruption which he will submit to the President within the next week; and then track the results.

Steenhuisen has also instructed DA Councillors this week to “lay charges of theft and fraud against Mayors and Municipal Managers of municipalities which have defaulted on their Eskom bills, yet continue to receive payment of rates from residents. South Africans cannot continue to pay for services they never receive because of money stolen by greedy ANC cadres.”

He says: “President Ramaphosa may have drawn a line in the sand on this issue, but South Africa knows that this line has been moved time and time again with every empty promise made.

“When the ANC says it ‘dips its head in shame’ over corrupt members, it is really burying its head in the sand and hoping that South Africa will forget what it has done.”

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