Lungani Zungu
President Cyril Ramaphosa told the state capture commission of inquiry on Wednesday that he stayed in Jacob Zuma’s administration to fight state capture.
Ramaphosa said he nearly resigned when Zuma appointed Des Van Rooyen as finance minister after axing Nhlanhla Nene in December 2015.
Van Rooyen was among the ANC members who enjoyed a cosy relationship with Zuma’s friends, the Gupta family, who were accused of capturing the state.
Ramaphosa, who was appointed Zuma’s deputy a year earlier, said he persuaded the former president to reverse the decision.
ANC bigwigs like Gwede Mantashe, then the ANC secretary-general, and his deputy Jessie Duarte also intervened and took Ramaphosa’s side, increasing pressure on Zuma.
Zuma relented and removed Van Rooyen just four days into his job and appointed Pravin Gordhan. But the damage was already done as the financial markets reacted negatively to Nene’s removal, leading to the loss of billions.
Ramaphosa said he had five options to consider when he “saw” state capture happening during Zuma’s nine years in office.
“The first option for me was to resign. The second would have been to speak out. And the third would have been to accept and just go along.
“The fourth would have been to remain silent and the fifth would have been to remain and resist, hoping that we can turn things around.”
He chose to remain and fight the capture of the state from within to end, what he called the state capture project.
“The wrongs of the past are being corrected,” he told acting chief justice Raymond Zondo, the chairperson of the commission.
Ramaphosa appeared at the commission as the former deputy president and current president of the country.
The ANC’s cadre development came under heavy scrutiny.
Zondo took the president to task, asking him tough questions about the collapse of the state-owned enterprises collapsing at the hands of the ANC.
“Mr President, how was it possible for an entity like Prasa to carry on for a period of five years without a CEO?” asked Zondo.
“An ANC or ruling party that is interested in who gets appointed at SOEs would be interested in making sure these entities are run well. It seems like the ANC wasn’t.”
Ramaphosa conceded that they should have been more alert in ensuring accountability.
Ramaphosa said he proposed Brian Molefe’s name to Zuma to be appointed as Eskom CEO in 2015.
“He seemed to be managing the public purse very, very well.”
Ramaphosa returns to the commission on Thursday.
