Johannesburg – Following the handover of the much anticipated State Capture Commission report from Acting Deputy Justice, Raymond Zondo, to President Cyril Ramaphosa, earlier this week, lobby groups and political parties are calling for heads to roll for those implicated in the first part of the report.
The report revealed many political bigwigs implicated of wrongdoing, including the likes of former president, Jacob Zuma, Former South African Airways (SAA) chairperson Dudu Myeni, Former Eskom Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Brian Molefe, Former South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane and Former Government Communications Information System (GCIS) CEO and Jacob Zuma Foundation spokesperson, Mzwanele Manyi.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), a Civil Action Organisation, said that the handover of the report is a momentous occasion for law-abiding citizens of South Africa to celebrate.
“Despite the fact that we have already experienced years of hearing evidence and exposés of ever-worsening scenarios of state capture and grand looting, we are pleased the State Capture Commissioner has finally produced this report, which is a formal account and assessment of what took place, who was involved and provides recommendations as to what should happen going forward,” Wayne Duvenage, Outa CEO, said in a statement.
“This is what South Africa has been waiting for and now it’s over to the law enforcement agencies to deal with the reams of content contained in the report. South Africans desperately want to see those who transgressed the laws or were involved in State Capture held to account and as much as possible of the money stolen recovered by the State,” Outa further stated.
“There should be no room to hide anymore,” says Duvenage, in a reference to Outa’s submission to Parliament in June 2017, in which Outa motivated for action by Parliament against state capture perpetrators.
State capture exists
Outa further said that it is pleased to see the actions recommended against Dudu Myeni.
Outa further called on law enforcement investigators and prosecutors not to wait for the President to submit the report to Parliament, but to get to work immediately, with a view to prosecuting wrongdoers and reclaiming stolen funds.
“The unpacking and use of information provided in the report will no doubt be met with resistance from the many perpetrators, however, we believe the rule of law will prevail. The Commission’s enormous archive of information – including millions of pages of documentary evidence – should provide sufficient evidence for the clean-up ahead and guide the development of new processes for both preventing and tackling the abuse of state funds going forward. Outa calls on the President to ensure the handover of the Commission’s archive to the National Prosecuting Authority as soon as it is delivered to him,”
“Outa believes that Cabinet should now also be tasked to find and approve more resources to ensure that that the Special Investigating Unit, the National Prosecuting Authority, the courts, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and SARS are up to the task that lies ahead for them,” Outa further stated.
Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), John Steenhuisen, said that the nation must now embark on the arduous journey of ridding our country of impunity and political unaccountability by charging the accused, placing them behind bars.
“For far too long the ANC’s pervasive and insidious style of corruption and tender manipulation, aided and justified by the party’s cadre deployment policy, has hollowed out our public service, awarded tenders to friends and family, and robbed taxpayers of services they pay for,” the leader of the DA said.
“Together with the DA’s Shadow Cabinet, I have begun studying the reports extensively to determine what action needs to be taken in this regard. Ministry by ministry, department by department, and individual by individual, we’ll ensure that a culture of accountability is restored. South Africans have seen countless Commissions of Inquiry, investigations, and reports over the years which have led to no prosecutions and no consequences for those implicated,” Steenhuisen further said.
South Africans deserve justice for the estimated R1 trillion looted through ANC corruption over the past decade and the subsequent decline of our country and its people in the shadow of political greed.
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) January 5, 2022
Meanwhile, the ruling party, the ANC, who is gearing up for its 110th anniversary celebrations that will take place this weekend in Limpopo, has said that it has undertaken to put mechanisms in place to implement recommendations of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector.
The governing party said in a statement that it would support the government as it processes the findings of the commission, headed by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
The GOOD party said it welcomes the submission to the President of the first of three reports by the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
The party said in a statement, “Fixing corruptible systems, foregrounding ethics and introducing greater procurement transparency can’t continue to wait. We have seen over the period of the Covid pandemic that corruption hasn’t yet gone away. What doesn’t need to wait at all is the prosecutorial system. It is time for the NPA to act on what are effectively a well-worn set of allegations, repeated in various forums, from the so-called Gupta leaks to various inquires, culminating in the Zondo Commission.”
Business Unity South Africa also welcomed the handover of the report.
Business Unity SA said in a statement, “Part 1 of the report is a voluminous document that will have to be studied carefully. However, the need to act urgently on the recommendations made in the Part 1 of the report because we will, as a country, only address the scourge of corruption and state capture, including dealing with it systemically and breaking the solid structures aiding and abetting this, if we act on the recommendations urgently and take quick action against identified perpetrators through the legal system. This applies across society, in government, business, labour and other parts of civil society. The success of the work the commission has done will best be measured by whether we can take action to reset our society’s moral compass!”
Also read:
ANC will support government process on state capture report
Look: Political bigwigs implicated in the state capture report
Zondo slams Jacob Zuma for allowing Guptas to capture state
Mzwanele Manyi says state capture report findings are ‘absolute rubbish’
Zondo stings Myeni and Kwinana
Judge Zondo insists that former SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni be charged
To read more political news and views, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
