Ramaphosa should outline measures taken to prevent corruption: Analyst

Independent political analyst Dale McKinley says President Cyril Ramaphosa should focus on what he has specifically done to prevent corruption in government when he returns to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture on Thursday.

It will be Ramaphosa’s second consecutive appearance at the Commission.

He has made the fight against corruption a pillar of his presidency, although opposition parties have criticised him for not doing enough to stop the rot during his time as former president Jacob Zuma’s deputy.

McKinley says Ramaphosa should avoid spending too much time on the Zuma years to avoid taking responsibility for not doing enough to prevent state capture.

During his appearance at the Commission on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said he had a number of options when he found out that state capture was taking place when he was Deputy President under Zuma.

He said resigning would have merely made news headlines and achieved little else, and that speaking out would have probably resulted in him being fired.

He said that opting to remain silent or simply going along with the status quo was not an option as he did not want to betray the African National Congress (ANC) and its founding members.

Ramaphosa speaks of options as state capture was taking place:

-Additional reporting by Busi Chimombe