Will ANC’s state capture task team carry out Zondo’s recommendations?

ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday confirmed that a task team within the governing party will be established to deal with the State Capture Commission’s report.

The task team, which consists of national executive committee (NEC) members, will guide the ANC’s response to the report and recommendations regarding its deployees.

Ramaphosa announced this at the end of the ANC’s two-day lekgotla on Sunday, where he said the party needed to show determination in addressing the “toxic legacy of state capture”.

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“The ANC and government have demonstrated our principled support for the objectives and work of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry since its inception. The NEC has agreed to establish an NEC task team to guide the ANC’s response to the Zondo report.

“This would be the development of a discussion paper for ANC structures on corruption and state capture and processing of recommendations relating to ANC and its deployees,” he said.

The ANC president further urged government to “address the behaviour and causes that allowed state capture to occur” upon receipt of the full report.

#ANCLekgotla Closing Address https://t.co/Mnxq6isXoz

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) January 23, 2022

During an interview with SABC News recently, Ramaphosa dismissed the perception that the ANC was a corrupt party, saying “certain people have done certain corrupt things”.

“All that is verified, through a type of Zondo report and many other reports, [is] whether certain people have participated,” he said.

Meanwhile, the task team, which was recommended by the national working committee (NWC), will be led by former Energy Minister Jeff Radebe alongside former ANC head of policy Joel Netshitenzhe, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola and other senior members.

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While the ANC’s alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), has urged that action be taken against those implicated, political analyst Omry Makgoale questioned whether the task team will execute the report’s recommendations.

“Most of the leaders mentioned have been there in the past and they have watched all these things happening in front of their eyes… some of them without doing anything about it.

“I really don’t know whether they will have the will and courage to actually address these problems because they know the truth. They saw all the capture by the Guptas… they know the truth,” he told Newzroom Afrika.

Makgoale noted that the task team may come under scrutiny by the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction within the ANC.

ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe publicly conceded that the party may not wholly approve the commission’s report, despite several members being implicated in wrongdoing.

State capture report

The report was released earlier this month by the commission, chaired by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

In the 874-page report, Zondo expressed concern about the link between political party funding and the corrupt granting of tenders.

Zondo suggested that the ANC benefitted from proceeds of corruption via donations.

The commission’s chair also cited evidence heard at the commission as an example, which revealed that Bosasa – among other businesses that scored tenders irregularly from government – made donations to the ANC.

READ MORE: ANC hoped to stop Zondo from making cadre minutes public

The publication of ANC’s deployment committee minutes further deepens the party’s alleged role in state capture.

The minutes, from 2018 to 2021, appear to show how the committee influenced decisions and appointments made in government departments as well as state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The full report will be submitted to Parliament by 30 June at the latest, although Ramaphosa did indicate during the handing over of the first part that it may be submitted earlier.