What Ramaphosa is accused of is not corruption, says Madonsela

Former public protector Thuli Madonsela has been the subject of criticism again following her opinion of “tackling mafia culture” in South Africa.

In a recent interview with Newzroom Afrika, Madonsela spoke about state capture and corruption, and also shared her thoughts on the allegations against President Cyril Ramaphosa, which seems to have left some unimpressed.

Madonsela, the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University, said while those who are in a position to hold others accountable for their actions must be on a higher ground than those they hold accountable, Ramaphosa was not being accused of corruption.

“The whole question of talking left and walking right is people who claim to be Marxist communists but at the end of the day they are milking the public purse to finance their luxurious habits. It’s not the same thing as the president. I wouldn’t say he’s implicated, I would say he’s accused. He becomes implicated when we can tell that what happened on his farm obviously had his own footprint on it,” Madonsela told the news channel.

“Should he be implicated, that would make it very difficult [to hold people accountable] because those who hold others accountable need to be on slightly higher ground than those they hold accountable. That’s just a universal requirement. What the president is being accused of is not corruption.

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“Corruption is abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. The corrupt people are the people that have twisted our public service processes, instead of those services serving our interests as a democratic society, those institutions have been diverted to serve their interests so that they can get tenders so that they can multiply the amount of money for those tenders. If something was supposed to cost R1 million, it costs R10 million or even more.

“They also twist the law enforcement systems so that when accountability day comes, they’re not held accountable because they’ve created tentacles of people who are dependent on them for benefits that they don’t deserve. It’s either they use bribery or extortion to make sure people in government serve their interests instead of serving the interests of democracy.”

Responding to a social media user who asked her what she meant by Ramaphosa not being accused of corruption, Madonsela said: “Not all illegal or dishonest behaviour is corruption. Also, corruption is not confined to government or acts of government officials. The proper definition of corruption is abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. Criminality applies to both supply and demand sides.”

Madonsela’s opinion has left social media divided.

Farmgate scandal

Ramaphosa has increasingly come under public pressure to come clean on the robbery at his Phala Phala farm, after former spy boss Arthur Fraser laid a criminal complaint against him in June of money laundering, kidnapping and corruption.

Fraser alleged that the president was involved in an elaborate cover-up of the crime after criminals – allegedly working in cahoots with his domestic worker – broke into his property and stole millions of US dollars in cash.

ALSO READ: Phala Phala: Ramaphosa only reported money was stolen a month later – report

He further claimed that the suspects were subsequently kidnapped, interrogated and bribed to keep quiet.

While Ramaphosa said he would cooperate with investigations, he denied any criminality on his part and maintained that the crime was reported to the Presidential Protection Unit.

Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe