President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the government’s transformation policy and pleaded with deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo not to find that the governing ANC’s deployment committee be scrapped.
Wrapping up his testimony in front of the state capture inquiry, which began hearing oral evidence in 2018 and has heard from hundreds of witnesses, Ramaphosa said he disagreed that cadre deployment was the problem.
The cadre deployment policy, used by the ruling party to help quicken transformation and to better implement its policies, has come in for a lot of criticism at the commission, with evidence leaders suggesting it was one of the foundations of corruption and inefficiency in the government and state-owned enterprises.
The president said transformation would not have happened without the ANC’s efforts. “Many people would dispute it but it is a fact. I will keep saying the governing party is not the appointing authority, there are many examples of the governing party showing a preference and then the preference having not emerged.
“There is a safeguard in the constitution and that is the appointing authority,” Ramaphosa said.
The president acknowledged that in a bid to empower black businesses a lot of state capacity had been outsourced, creating a dependence on tenders. He said this was wrong and that building state capacity was a priority for his administration.
Ramaphosa also conceded that there was need for transparency in the work of the ANC’s deployment committee. He insisted the committee’s key role was to make recommendations and not to instruct.
The president said since coming to office in 2017 he had introduced transparency and professionalism in the committee and was now keeping minutes of meetings unlike in the past.
He also pleaded with South Africans to not expect miracles overnight, saying state capture would take years to reverse but insisted the country was now on the right track.
“We [the ANC] have suffered loss of support because of corruption and it is an existential threat for us in terms of survival. The process of renewal has started and is continuing,” Ramaphosa said.
“Sometimes as South Africans we want a magic wand. We are filled with doubt and rejection, from the people who have to put their head down and do the work,” Ramaphosa said.
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