Ramaphosa will have to explain why some decisions were made when he was Deputy President: Analyst

President Cyril Ramaphosa will be in the hot seat on Wednesday and Thursday  at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture
to testify about his time as Deputy President under former President Jacob Zuma.

Ramaphosa will start by rounding off his testimony from April regarding his tenure as leader of the African National Congress (ANC). He had conceded that the party had not done enough to tackle state capture, cadre deployment and discipline among Members of Parliament.

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga says Ramaphosa will have to explain why some decisions were made when he was Deputy President.

“Some controversial decisions have been made in government that need to be explained in relation to state-owned entities, Eskom. The purchasing and procurement of coal –  those are decisions that actually happened at the time when he was in charge of government business relating to questions relating to Eskom, the power challenges we are confronted with in government. So, I think he is going to face very specific questions relating to how much he knew, what did he make of what he knew and what did he make of some of the decisions that were made in government at the time,” says Mathekga.

In the video below, State Capture Commission announced that President Ramaphosa will be in the hot seat:

Ramaphosa will also likely face further scrutiny with regards to his ANC presidential campaign in 2017, the details of which remain sealed after his victory in the Pretoria High court last month.

In April, he continued to insist that the CR17 fund managers did not tell him who donated campaign money as they did not want him to be beholden to donors.

Mathegka says the Inquiry will be incomplete if it does not pursue the matter this week.

“When you look at the CR17 campaign it’s a lot of money that the President doesn’t see, a political obligation to openly declare who funded him and what was the expectation. He won a legal battle but he did not win a political battle in my view. One way or the other if you are going to explain the role of money in decision-making which involves mega-deals, which involve how policy can benefit certain groups those questions will have to come out.”

SABC Political reporter, Ntlantla Kgatlhane compiled the report in the video below: