Lungani Zungu
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s testimony at the state capture commission was less exciting than the usual drama that has unfolded before Judge Raymond Zondo.
But his testimony this week brought to the fore a litany of wrongs committed by the ANC, and saw him try to position the ruling party as running a clean-up job of the mess left by his predecessor.
He also paid tribute to the journalists who had exposed state capture and in his closing remarks said: “There are many people who paid a great price for taking a principled stand [against] state capture.”
Ramaphosa admitted that the ANC government, then led by former president Jacob Zuma, dragged its feet in dealing with the Guptas. Ramaphosa was deputy president at the time.
The president said there had been allegations that the Gupta business family had a say in the Cabinet appointments as early as 2011.
He told the commission that Fikile Mbalula had told the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in 2011 about Gupta’s secret dealings.
Even when the GuptaLeaks were thrust into the public spotlight in 2017, Ramaphosa said his party turned a blind eye.
“The issue of state capture was hugely contested in the ANC, and what should be done contributed to divisions in ANC structures, including the NEC, the government and Parliament, as well as other areas of society,” he said.
The spotlight then turned to where he had got his campaign money during the ANC conference in 2017.
Ramaphosa flatly denied that he bought votes but said the money raised by his campaign team had helped to buy food, airtime and T-shirts for his supporters.
Cadre deployment also came under scrutiny with Ramaphosa admitting that it was flawed.
He said some individuals deployed to certain government positions lacked the needed qualifications, skills and experience to serve.
Ramaphosa said it only became apparent at a later stage that some deployments were wrong.
He also admitted that the ANC’s Deployment Committee was not made aware of some appointments.
Picture source: @MYANC
