Nzimande echoes Ramaphosa’s call for inquiry into ‘state capture’ allegations

South African Communist Party (SACP) secretary-general Blade Nzimande on Monday reiterated his party’s call for a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of “state capture” against the controversial Gupta family, echoing a similar call by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa at the weekend for the ANC to support the inquiry.

“Why are we not taking radical action about the Guptas when there is so much evidence. We, for instance, as the SACP, we’re calling for a judicial commission of inquiry and to all state capture, but in relation to the Guptas, we’ve got information that we would have actually brought before the judicial commission,” Nzimande said in an interview with Talk Radio 702’s Eusebius McKaiser.

He cited the contentious R4-billion coal supply deal between Eskom and Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration and Resources as an example of some of the allegations clouding the wealthy family and their relationship with President Jacob Zuma.

Nzimande said there had been a lack of political will to institute the inquiry as recommended by former public protector Thuli Madonsela in her State of Capture report because “those who are supposed to be taking the decisions are complicit”.

“… But it’s well-known; it’s not like it’s a secret. If you take the Tegeta deal with Eskom [for] coal, you can see there’s a big underlying problem – It’s the lack of political will,” he said.

Speaking on Sunday at the Chris Hani memorial lecture in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape, Ramaphosa strongly advocated for the inquiry, saying allegations of state capture “should be put to rest because they are the elephant in the room”.

“It is possibly the only process that will be able to get to bottom of these allegations and determine the truthfulness or lack thereof,” he said.

Nzimande said Ramaphosa was right to say the ANC should have focused more on how money and access to resources impacted on the party following his comments at the memorial that money would be used to buy votes and favours in the lead up to the governing party’s leadership elective conference later this year in December.

“But on our side as the SACP, it doesn’t change that we think the correct thing to do is to actually call for a judicial commission of inquiry. These are some of the things that have made the SACP to arrive at this difficult decision, saying maybe in order to move forward with all else, the president should step down.

“… Precisely because there’s been growing dissatisfaction inside the ranks of the SACP about the failure to act on very clear wrong things,” he said.

Last year, Zuma filed an application at the North Gauteng High Court to review and set aside Madonsela’s remedial actions contained in her report, in particular her recommendation that the inquiry should be headed by a judge solely chosen by the head of the Constitutional Court.

He had previously publicly argued that the manner in which the report was compiled by the former public protector was “funny” and only he had the legal power to institute the inquiry as the country’s president.

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