State capture possibly cost the country R500bn, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has reportedly said that state capture could possibly have cost South Africa more than R500 billion.

Fin24 reports that the president was on Monday addressing a gathering of international investors at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London.

It is reported that Ramaphosa spoke about efforts to get rid of corruption in South Africa and steps that will be taken against those implicated of this, including the Guptas.

The president said the country was working on bringing to book those complicit in widespread corruption.

It was reported recently that South Africa has approached India, Canada, Switzerland, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates, among others, to have the Gupta family extradited.

“Our country was dogged by corruption across the board, in both the public and private sector,” Ramaphosa was quoted as saying.

The president said a lot of money was syphoned out of the state purse through corruption and that some of these corrupt means had been sophisticated.

Ramaphosa reportedly said that what was shocking was that some of those complicit in corruption had been blue-chip companies “of great world reputation”.

South Africa’s prosecuting and crime intelligence authorities were working to bring to book those complicit in corruption, the president said.

He said he was confident that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) would go after those complicit in criminal activity, whether they were in South Africa or outside of the country.

Ramaphosa said corruption in South Africa was bigger than what had been thought and estimated that it may have cost the country over R500 billion, while some have suggested it may have cost R1 trillion.

The president assured the gathering that the country had taken steps to strengthen institutions that were in past weakened to allow corruption, which included the NPA and the South African Revenue Service.

“We have stemmed the bleeding we are ready to open [a] new chapter. Those responsible will be brought to book,” Ramaphosa was quoted as saying, adding that the country would embark on a course of clean governance and that corrupt tendencies would be avoided.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu.)

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