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President Cyril Ramaphosa
- ANC members accused of corruption are an ANC affair, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the National Assembly.
- He answered questions one day before ANC SG Ace Magashule appeared in court on corruption charges.
- He sidestepped a question about why he failed to act on the corruption allegations in Prasa, which was provided to the ANC’s top six in 2015.
ANC leaders accused of corruption were an ANC affair, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in the National Assembly on Thursday, a day before ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule, a former Prime Minister of the Free State, appeared before the court on corruption charges. .
The first question from the hybrid plenary, posed by DA leader John Steenhuisen, dealt with corruption and the Ramaphosa administration’s response to the capture of the state. The last question in the question paper was on behalf of ANC MP Bongani Bongo, who had been indicted in two separate corruption cases.
In his follow-up question, Steenhuisen asked if Ramaphosa was really committed to the fight against corruption, how was it that Magashule was still the general secretary of the ANC and Bongo had a question in the question paper.
“The issue of ANC leaders is a matter handled by the ANC,” said Ramaphosa, who is the president of the ANC.
He asked that the internal processes of the ANC be allowed to develop.
“As I am here today,” said Ramaphosa, who appeared to be sitting as he spoke on the virtual platform, “I stand before you as the president of the republic.”
He said the issues raised by Steenhuisen were “relevant to the ANC”, which was dealing with them.
ANC MP Grace Tseke asked if she agreed that everyone should unite in the fight against corruption and that this was not a “narrow party political issue”.
Ramaphosa replied:
He said, as he did previously, that his administration would not interfere with the work of law enforcement agencies.
“We will not block them. They are working in the interest of all South Africans.”
“Corruption, in the end, is a crime against the people of our country.”
ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe asked if Ramaphosa would agree with ACDP that instead of bailing out bankrupt state companies, the money could be better spent fighting corruption.
“I would like to say that where I am sitting as president … we always seek to create a good balance.”
He said funding the criminal justice system was a “recurring challenge”, and state-owned companies “run into financial difficulties from time to time.”
Ramaphosa said they told SOEs that they would not continue rescuing them.
FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald referred to former Prasa board chairman Popo Molefe’s testimony before the Zondo commission on state capture, in which he said a report detailing corruption was delivered to the six first of the ANC in 2015.
“Why didn’t you act in 2015?” Groenewald asked.
Then he asked another question: when was Ramaphosa going to sign the regulations for the Party Financing Act. Ramaphosa answered this question, but not the one related to Prasa.
