Home

Corrupt big-wigs not to serve the common good: Archbishop Makgoba

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, the Reverend Thabo Makgoba, has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to ensure that corrupt individuals in the African National Congress (ANC) return what they have stolen from the public and go to jail.

He made the call in a message recorded to support a new anti-corruption campaign launched by various organisations, including the SA Council of Churches, the Nelson Mandela and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy foundations.

Makgoba says perpetrators must be brought to book.

“Corrupt big-wigs who have joined your party, not to serve the common good but to enrich themselves, act with impunity. Their attitudes are debilitating, life-drenching … the hypocrites and the thieves must return the stolen treasures of the poor, and they must be dispatched to jail, where they must wear orange jumpsuits.”

Earlier this week, a group of civil society organisations has called on the African National Congress (ANC) to take strong action against those implicated in acts of corruption.

The group includes the Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada foundations, the South African Council of Churches and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac).

They held a virtual meeting with the ANC leadership led by party president Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.

The organisations have expressed concern over COVID-19 related corruption, the reinstatement of VBS implicated party members and the party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule’s statement about ANC leaders doing business with the government.

The organisations have called on all those living in South Africa to be vigilant and reject corruption.

Casac’s Lawson Naidoo said, “What we have requested and the president, who was part of the meeting agreed, that the delegation must next meet with government because it is government that has the power and authority to institute the interventions that are necessary to hold people accountable and that there’s a speedy resolution to these corrupt COVID-19 contracts and that people are indeed held accountable for their actions.”

Last week Friday, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation hosted an online rally against COVID-19 corruption with speakers from labour, business, civil society, and the faith-based sector:

Black Business Council president Sandile Zungu, who addressed the rally, said there need to ways to strengthen instruments of accountability:

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says the governing party and its leaders who are in government must intensify efforts to root out corruption.

In a letter to all party members, Ramaphosa called for an immediate end to corruption in the party ranks, government and society as a whole.

Below is the full letter:

 

Author

MOST READ