If state capture were to revisit SA, there is a high likelihood the ANC will once again fail to use its majority in parliament to deal with it, chief justice Raymond Zondo warned on Thursday.
Zondo, who chaired the state capture commission of inquiry for four years, says the manner in which the ANC used its majority in parliament to prevent the executive from being held accountable by voting against multiple motions of no confidence against former president Jacob Zuma is an indication that the interests of the ANC took precedence over the interests of the country.
On Tuesday, opposition parties in parliament accused the ANC of using its majority in the National Assembly to defend President Cyril Ramaphosa from accounting to the legislature on the burglary that took place at his Phala Phala farm and allegations he tried to cover it up.
“The evidence that was led in the commission by the president of the majority party [Ramaphosa] was quite clear that members of the majority party are not expected or should not vote in a motion of no confidence if the president of the country is their president,” Zondo said. “If that is so, it is unlikely that the majority party would act differently and the question arises if we are at risk that what happened to us as a country would happen again at some stage, and parliament would not prevent that.”
Zondo was giving a keynote address at an event organised by News24.
The commission, which released its final report in June, found there was a symbiotic relationship between the ANC and politically connected individuals and private companies. It found that state-owned enterprises such as SAA, Transnet and Eskom and government departments were rendered dysfunctional to divert public funds for private benefit and highlighted how the actions of the Gupta family, through their proximity to Zuma, hollowed out state institutions.
Senior members of the ANC — including mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe, head of organising Nomvula Mokonyane and deputy minister of water David Mahlobo — were implicated in the report, which has been referred to law enforcement agencies for investigation.
The ANC has given its integrity commission six months to deal with the 200 members implicated in the report, while Ramaphosa has undertaken to present an action plan for the implementation of the recommendations of the report to parliament within four months of the final report being submitted to him.
To tackle any possible future state capture and to deal with corruption, Zondo highlighted the need to protect whistle-blowers: “We need to assure there are people who report it and the police are capacitated.”
However, justice minister Ronald Lamola, who spoke on a panel after Zondo’s address, disagreed with the chief justice’s observations, saying the governing party had a number of measures to tackle the scourge.
“We will act differently. The governing party is acting. As we speak now, we have a suspended secretary-general ... And those actions will further be strengthened by the upcoming elective conference. It is no easy task to have a suspended secretary-general,” Lamola said.
Earlier this week, former Transnet CEOs Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama and other senior executives appeared in court on corruption, racketeering and fraud charges. If the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) succeeds, the prosecution there will lay the blueprint for other state capture cases.
More “seminal” state capture cases are expected to be enrolled in courts by the end of September, according to the head of the Investigating Directorate (ID), Andrea Johnson.
“We have undertaken four [state capture cases], we have completed three, we have one to go. But we won’t give you only one in September. And it’s not because the ID wants to be popular, it is because it has a duty. So yes, the NPA will achieve its commitment of nine by the end of September,” Johnson said.
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