President Cyril Ramaphosa told the Zondo Commission on Thursday that he was waiting for its report before he would drop implicated individuals from top positions in the state, despite being in possession of evidence against them.
He was responding to questions from evidence leader Paul Pretorius on why he had appointed former minister of intelligence David Mahlobo as a deputy minister and former intelligence director-general Arthur Fraser to another high ranking position, even though he was in possession of a report which recommended criminal and disciplinary action against them.
“I decided to wait for this process to be complete and finally it is coming to an end ... I’m waiting for the commission report,” said Ramaphosa.
When he came into office in February 2018, Ramaphosa commissioned a report into the security services from former intelligence minister Sydney Mufamadi. He received the report in December 2018, which included evidence of corruption and abuse of state resources by Mahlobo and Fraser, and recommended action against them.
Acting chief justice Raymond Zondo warned Ramaphosa though that if he was to wait for the end of judicial processes, he could put himself in a situation where he could wait for many more years.
“When the report is handed over there will be review proceedings ... You ought to be alive to a situation where you could end up with no action being taken for a number of years because some people will be thinking nothing can be done until the reviews are exhausted,” Zondo said.
The practice of refusing to act against people until the conclusion of court proceedings against them had caused SA many problems, said Zondo.
“Some of our challenges have been that people who were supposed to take decisions have decided to wait for court process and nothing is done when something should be done,” he said.
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