President Cyril Ramaphosa has commended the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture for the progress it has made so far.
The commission is to resume on November 12 in Parktown, Johannesburg, with former Public Enterprises Minister, Barbara Hogan, testifying.
Addressing South African diplomats at the Heads of Missions conference in Pretoria, Ramaphosa says those involved in corrupt activities within state owned enterprises must be held accountable.
“One of the challenges we face is corruption. Corruption has become so endemic in our country and we almost were a failing state. But we are turning that around and the Zondo Commission is doing its work wonderfully and the truth of what has happened in the past will come out.”
“I can assure you we are going to clean up. One of the areas where the clean-up is necessary is in our SOEs. They are being overhauled and the message is clear – people who have been involved in wrongdoing need to be accountable.”
New Director of NDPP
Ramaphosa has outlined his expectations of the individual who is to take over as the new Director of Public Prosecutions.
This after the Constitutional Court ruled that the appointment of Shaun Abrahams as the NPA head was illegal – and former head Mxolisi Nxasana’s payout, after he was fired by former president Jacob Zuma, was also unconstitutional.
Ramaphosa has invited legal organisations and independent public institutions to assist in identifying and selecting individuals for consideration for the position of NDPP.
“We are now moving forward to appoint a new NDPP. A panel is in place to interview a plethora of people and they will select a few names and we are hoping that the appointee will be a person who will not be captured, who will make sure that our criminal justice system is well. That is the last person we would ever want to be captured. We want them to be as slippery from the hands of capturers as possible.”
‘SA banking systems remain solid’
President Ramaphosa says despite the collapse of the VBS Mutual Bank, the country’s banking systems remain solid. The Public Protector’s office is investigating the VBS Bank saga after money, belonging to certain municipalities invested with the institution, went missing following its collapse.
The VBS Mutual Bank Report has linked about 50 people, or companies, to losses at the bank – amounting to about R2 billion.
VBS was placed under curatorship by the Reserve Bank earlier this year, amid allegations of mismanagement and fraud.
