WATCH: ‘The closer ANC gets to losing power, the more corruption we are going to see’ – Moeletsi Mbeki

Moeletsi Mbeki, the brother of former President Thabo Mbeki, said South Africa is likely to see more corruption as the African National Congress (ANC) comes closer to losing power.

Mbeki was speaking to the SABC in an interview about the current challenges facing the country.

Watch the interview with Moeletsi Mbeki

Is SA better under Ramaphosa?

He said South Africa is not better off under the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa.

“No, no, we are not better off. For the last ten years, the per capita income of South Africans has been declining, which means we have been getting poorer and we are still getting poorer today, so we are not better off.”

“The control over corruption has not happened, the recommendations of the Zondo Commission have hardly been implemented. The other side is the lack of efficiency by the government,” Mbeki said.

Heart of corruption

Mbeki alleges that public officials are at the heart of corruption.

“Public officials, that is where the heart of corruption in this country is. The painful part is the closer the ANC gets to losing power, the more corruption we are going to see.”

“They have to take out from this feeding trough and put it in their pockets because they think that after next year’s elections they will no longer be in power. So, I am afraid we have a lot more pain coming from corruption in the coming fifteen months,” Mbeki said.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Eskom a ‘feeding trough’ for ANC – De Ruyter

ANC under spotlight

The governing party came under the spotlight last week after former Eskom CEO  André de Ruyter said he believed there are those in the ANC who see Eskom as a “feeding trough” and that that evidence would indicate this is the case.

“I would say the evidence suggests that it is. I expressed my concerns to a senior government minister about attempts in my view to water down governance around the $8.5 billion that by and large through Eskom’s intervention we got at Cop26.”

“And the response was essentially you have to be pragmatic. In order to pursue the greater good, you have to enable some people to eat a little bit. So, yes, it is I think entrenched,” De Ruyter said.

Governing party hits back

However, the ANC hit back at the corruption claims last week in a media briefing following Wednesday’s budget speech.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula labelled De Ruyter as a “naysayer” and a “failure”.

“I will challenge him for saying that our party is corrupt and failing to prove how. I’m not going to wait for some parliamentary committee to summon him.

“We will take action and I am going to write to him through our lawyers that he must prove, within 10 or seven days, what he said. He must come, but we will meet in court,” Mbalula said.

Additonal reporting by Molefe Seeletsa

ALSO READ: ‘We will meet in court’: ANC slams ‘right-wing’ De Ruyter for shifting blame over Eskom