Mixed reaction to Ramaphosa’s ‘Rubicon moment’ on graft

The pressure is on for President Cyril Ramaphosa to walk the talk after excoriating those in the ANC who have been exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic for their own gain and insisting this be the “turning point” in the fight against corruption.

Ramaphosa yesterday wrote a seven-page missive to his party members, decrying their alleged looting of state resources earmarked for relief efforts – labelling it “an unforgivable betrayal”, but also highlighting the problem had “far deeper roots”.

“We must be honest with our people and ourselves. We must acknowledge that our movement, the ANC, has been and remains deeply implicated in South Africa’s corruption problem,” he said.

“Today, the ANC and its leaders stand accused of corruption. The ANC may not stand alone in the dock, but it does stand as accused number one.”

He said urgent action was needed and that moving forward the party had to implement “without delay” the resolutions of the 54th national conference.

This included requiring those facing criminal charges to step down while their cases were being heard so as to “insulate the ANC from reputational damage arising from their personal challenges”.

Political analyst Daniel Silke yesterday described the contents of Ramaphosa’s letter as “fighting talk” but said he had to lead from the trenches.

“Plenty of damage has been done but you can always begin a process of turning things around,” Silke said, adding this could be the start of a new era for the scandal-plagued ANC in terms of how corruption was dealt with.

“But it’s not good enough for him to just speak about it,” he said. Real, meaningful action was needed and Ramaphosa had to be prepared to take “political risks”.

Sizwe Pamla of the Congress of SA Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) said Ramaphosa’s letter and its contents had been noted. But he said the unions, which have been vocal about ending corruption, still had to meet to discuss whether or not their concerns had been adequately addressed.

The president’s renewed push to stamp out corruption comes after the commissioner of the SA Revenue Service (Sars), Edward Kieswetter, on Thursday revealed to the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) the involvement of “politically exposed persons” in more than half of the R2 billion’s worth of Covid-19 tenders currently under investigation by his offices.

On Wednesday, the head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) also came before the Scopa and revealed it was probing 658 contracts totalling more than R5 billion – with a large portion in Gauteng.

And on Friday, the Special Tribunal said in a statement it had granted the SIU an order freezing R38.7 million in bank accounts belonging to 40 companies and individuals suspected of crooking the provincial health department’s system during the disaster.

One of the companies in the SIU’s line of fire is Bhaca King Thandisizwe Diko’s Royal Bhaca Project. Diko is married to Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, who took a special leave of absence last month amid allegations that Royal Bhaca had scored contracts worth R125 million to provide the department with personal protective equipment (PPE).

On Friday, all the funds in an account belonging to Ledla Structural Development – reportedly a front company for Royal Bhaca, which received R80 million in contracts – were frozen.

A further R3.5 million in an account belonging to Royal Bhaca’s reported supplier, Mediwaste, was also frozen. The Special Tribunal also froze the pension fund of Gauteng health’s former chief financial officer, Kabelo Lehloenya.

Lehloenya has been accused of helping facilitate billions of rands’ worth of irregular awards and resigned under a cloud of suspicion in May.

Supply chain chief director Thandi Pino, who has also been accused of wrongdoing, has been suspended. Wayne Duvenage, the chief executive officer of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, believed this was “a Rubicon moment”.

He said the pandemic had laid bare the extent of the rot and was hopeful Ramaphosa was posturing to “deliver the kind of leadership we’ve all been waiting for”.

“The president is doing what he has to do and saying it as it is. The question now is, what next?” he said.

-bernadettew@citizen.co.za

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