Cape Town - Politicians and political analysts have given a lukewarm welcome to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Sunday night address to the nation in which he sought to reassure South Africans that compromised systems were back on their feet, and the crisis of corruption had been averted.
Political analyst Daniel Silke said: “Once again we heard lofty rhetoric coming from the president. I think he touched many of the right bases in terms of continuing the narrative he presents of renewal and rebirth, but ultimately the proof will be in the pudding.”
Silke said actions would have to speak louder than words and complained that some of the real issues, such as cadre deployment and Chief Justice Zondo’s recommendations on the issue, were skirted around.
“Clearly that was a political issue that the president was far too afraid or unwilling to even mention, especially given the ANC’s elective conference later this year.”
Fellow political analyst Ralph Mathegka said the ANC seemed unable to tackle the political challenges it faced and that both the Cabinet and the party were divided.
He said there was no need to set up extra institutions to look into the problem of corruption: “The institutions are there. The only thing is just to give them the resources they need and let them function. It’s as simple as that. But the problem is politics.”
Mathekga said the way forward was to allow the existing institutions to function free of political interference.
DA parliamentary chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said the president’s address had confirmed that it was up to Parliament to act as the last line of defence against state capture.
Gwarube said: “Much of what the president said was existing work that is already being done by law enforcement agencies.
“Nothing was said about bolstering their capacity to do the kind of investigative work that is needed to prosecute those who plundered public money.”
She said Ramaphosa had completely avoided making any announcements about Cabinet ministers who had been implicated in state capture and how he would be holding them to account.
She said the DA would be writing to the Speaker to place the matter on the agenda of the programming committee to be held this week.
“An action plan must be developed to act on the wide-ranging recommendations of this judicial commission.”
GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron said the breadth of the measures Ramaphosa announced underscored Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s argument that no single intervention could rid the country of corruption on its own.
He said Ramaphosa’s reportback on progress being made with prosecutions, the freezing of assets and the recovery of stolen funds was welcome news.
However, he felt the slow pace of prosecutions remained a cause of great frustration and said the state must invest in the criminal justice system.
“The proof of the pudding will be in the implementation; for now, South Africans must wait and see.”