Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said his resolve to fight corruption was not “a flash in the pan” but would “go deep into the roots of this corruption”.
Ramaphosa‚ who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland‚ spoke to CNN’s anchor Christiane Amanpour on Thursday night about what he was going to do to fight corruption.
“What I have committed to do‚ together with other leaders of the ANC as we resolved at our conference (in December)‚ is to tackle corruption.
“Firstly‚ to set up a commission of inquiry to go into the full mess that we have been having over the years‚ of state capture where a few individuals‚ a few companies have captured our state institutions and were just stealing money left‚ right and centre.”
Ramaphosa said this was not going to be the only step.
“We are going to do that inquiry but at the same time we are going to be fingering those who are to blame‚ having them arrested‚ having them prosecuted and sent to jail without any fear or favour or prejudice.”
Ramaphosa said he and other ANC leaders had committed to do that because they wanted to clean up South Africa so that it could be more attractive to investors and‚ at the same time‚ to deal with the issues that had been impeding economic growth.
When asked if his efforts would result in a few big scalps‚ Ramaphosa replied: “I am promising to our people … that this is not a flash in the pan; we are going to go deep into the roots of this corruption‚ because it has been all-pervasive.”
Ramaphosa said in December last year‚ after he was elected ANC president‚ that he and the ANC leaders were had a new resolve to rid it of all the bad things that had been happening in the past. He cited corruption as being the key one‚ as well as low economic growth.
Of Davos‚ Ramaphosa said: “For the first time in many years‚ SA has become a country of great interest. Many‚ many business leaders and government leaders are coming to talk to us and they are wishing us well.
“We are basically saying South Africa is becoming renewed and we are open for business and investment.”
Ramaphosa said he was pleased that business leaders in Davos had said they were ready to invest in South Africa.
by Ernest Mabuza — TimesLIVE
