Ramaphosa plans to make a number of changes based on the Zondo Commission, but they come far too late Photo GCIS
South Africa – President Ramaphosa has announced he will make a number of changes in response to the state capture commission. The Zondo commission made over 350 recommendations, 202 of which were for criminal and other investigations.
One of the recommendations is making the Investigating Directorate permanent and overhauling the country’s public procurement system. The interventions were announced in a speech on Sunday night, four months after the final instalment of the commission report was handed over. Taking these steps could indicate the president is taking the report seriously, however, Dr. Clyde Ramalaine, Independent political analyst, believes otherwise. If the president was serious about the report, he would have suspended the four ministers who are implicated in the report before appearing before the nation.
“It’s difficult to ascertain if the president was engaging in anything seriously … If the president came to us having said that I’ve made such a decision to relieve them of their duties from my cabinet, we would have been a little bit inspired. However, he did not do any of that because he needs these to take him through to the second term.”
Ramalaine also took issue with two other things. Mainly the president calling for more money to be given to parliament to exercise their oversight role. The last issue was making the Investigating Directorate permanent. Ramalaine believes this is useless because if the current structures are not adequate, they should be focusing on working on that instead of making another anti-corruption unit. Everything the president said could have been made in a statement, there was no plan that was outlined which is what the public has asked for, said Ramalaine.
The former presidents speaking out against Ramaphosa
The weekend was an eventful one that saw three former presidents and the current president speak to the public. While Ramaphosa was busy talking about the Zondo commission report, the former presidents unequivocally said to the president that he has a case against him he has to answer for. Something Ramalaine agrees with them on.
“The issue that Motlanthe is engaging in, engages the subject matter of a president potentially having something to hide. In Mbeki’s reply he engages with the subject matter of if the Parliamentary panel arrives at a place where they do find grounds for an impeachable offence on the part of the president, then the question is what does the ANC then do in that instance? Zuma’s point is whether we like it or not the president engaged in extra mural activities, running business while occupying the office. That for me, besides politics, is what I think needs a response to.”
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Ramaphosa has a lot to answer for and not just his term as president
For many, it was during former president Zuma’s era the country started to decline. Many blame him for the mess the country is in. Ramalaine finds it fascinating that many forget Ramaphosa was the deputy president at the time, yet he gets no blame placed on him for anything.
“The last five years of his era, the second term, the current president was the deputy president. I am always fascinated by how the discussion concerning how Zuma messed up the country paints Zuma terribly, but it completely exonerates his deputy who was in charge of Eskom and the list goes on.”
Ramalaine stressed if Zuma is implicated in the state capture report, he should be dealt with like everybody else. However, Ramaphosa cannot be made to look like a saint when he was second in charge when everything was going on. He also questioned Ramaphosa’s seriousness and sincerity to actually stomp out corruption by taking so long to respond to the state capture commission while also suspending the public prosecutor.
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The President is not as innocent as he is made out to be
Supporters of Ramaphosa are quick to say he inherited a broken system, but Ramalaine is quick to remind those that Ramaphosa was part of the system. He only inherited what he was a part of and there is much he can still be blamed for.
“Afrobarometer is on record to have said that under Ramaphosa’s leadership corruption increased. Now if you want to contend this corruption increased because of the people left behind in the system, that is debatable. The fact of the matter is if corruption took place under Jacob Zuma, it must be laid in front of him. If corruption takes place under Ramaphosa it must be laid in front of his door. You can’t claim the victories and don’t claim the warts.”
The only way the country can move forward is if civil society takes a stand and stops outsourcing urgency to political parties. Ramalaine fully believes every political party has people that want to do right by the country. Civil society must now take a stand against politicians and political parties if they wish to see the change they want in the country.
