‘No finger-pointing’ – Mashatile says ANC ‘has always been an anti-corruption party’

Deputy President Paul Mashatile found himself defending the ANC against more allegations of corruption, and President Cyril Ramaphosa against allegations of money laundering.

Mashatile was responding to oral questions in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday.

The allegations against Ramaphosa even saw EFF MP Kenny Motsamai being kicked out of the house for refusing to withdraw his comments that “Ramaphosa is a criminal”.

Greylisting

The DA’s Dennis Ryder had asked Mashatile about the speedy prosecutions of high profile cases to hasten South Africa’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list.

Mashatile responded: “The FATF greylisted South Africa based on the evaluation conducted in 2019 and the report released in 2021. The report identified South Africa as one of the countries with strategic deficiencies in relation to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. In 2021, SA was placed under a one-year observation period allowing the country to address 67 recommended actions.”

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He said the country had made “significant progress” by addressing 52 of the 67 recommended actions.

“We are now focusing on the remaining 15 actions which we should meet by January 2025 – That’s the deadline that we have been given to finalise the remaining 15.”

The NPA and other law enforcement agencies were implementing an integrated action plan to ensure a sustained increase in investigations and prosecutions of serious and complex money-laundering cases, added Mashatile.

However, Ryder wanted to know how Mashatile was helping the NPA with these cases.

He asked: “The questions that South Africans are asking are: when will President Cyril Ramaphosa be charged with money laundering? Will we arrest the war criminal Russian President Vladmir Putin when he sets foot in South Africa?

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“Will former deputy president DD Mabuza be charged for his corrupt activities before he flees to Russia? When will former president Jacob Zuma be re-arrested to finish his jail term? What action will the NPA take against former correctional services commissioner Arthur Fraser for undermining the criminal justice system and releasing Zuma from prison without reason? Which minister will be investigated for Thabo Bester’s jailbreak?”

‘No one is special’

In response, Mashatile said he would not interfere with the work of law enforcement agencies, who were expected to do their work “without fear or favour”.

“There is no one that is special. They must just do their work, so I’m not going to be chasing certain high profile leaders. The duty of the executive is not to investigate cases, it’s the law enforcement agencies’ and they must do so,” he said.

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Ramaphosa had subjected himself to the processes of the law enforcement agencies, said Mashatile.

“He has said so. There is the South African Revenue Service (Sars) that has given a report. There is the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) that said they are investigating. The public protector gave a preliminary report, she is due to give a final report. Let’s give that a chance, let’s not interfere. Let’s allow these agencies to do their work. They will do so.”

Municipalities, coalitions and ANC corruption

Mashatile further implored other political parties to move away from the narrative that the ANC was corrupt because according to the deputy president, this was not the case.

“The issue of corruption shouldn’t be singled out to a particular party. There is often an attempt to say the ANC is a corrupt party, which is not the case. Let’s deal with those officials that are corrupt. Let’s move away from that notion.

“There should be no finger pointing to the ANC. We as the ANC have always been anti corruption party, always. Many laws initiated by us are anti-corruption and we want them to be implemented right down to the ground.”

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