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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted that during his tenure as former President Jacob Zuma’s deputy, national corruption was rampant, but said he did not resign because it would prevent him from boycotting Corrupt efforts.
On Wednesday, Ramaphosa appeared before a judicial team to investigate Zuma’s alleged large-scale robbery of the national treasury during his presidency from 2009 to 2018.
He served as Zuma’s deputy for four years from May 2014, and then succeeded him in February 2018.
“I have five options: resign; speak up; acquiesce and instigate; remain silent; or stay and resist,” Ramaphosa said.
But he believes that if he quit his job, “this action will greatly weaken my ability to contribute to ending corruption,” he argued.
Ramaphosa said that he decided to stay to “resist some of the worse and obvious abuse of power.”
“In hindsight, I am convinced that this is the necessary and correct course of action,” he said.
This is the second time Ramaphosa has appeared before the group.
Ramaphosa defeated Zuma’s ex-wife in 2017, won the leadership position of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and then helped plan Zuma’s removal from the presidency.
Zuma played a cat and mouse game with the committee, answered the question only once in 2019, and then left, saying that he was treated as a criminal.
This year, the country’s Supreme Court ordered Zuma to return, but he refused and was sentenced to 15 months in prison last month for contempt of court.
The investigation is the result of a 2016 investigation by the country’s inspectors. The investigation found that Zuma allowed the Guptas family to improperly influence the government. The Guptas family is a wealthy Indian immigrant business family that has won lucrative contracts with state-owned companies.
The Gupta brothers have repeatedly denied corruption allegations and are now believed to live in Dubai.
Zuma denied that corruption prevailed during his administration. He claimed that the investigation was politically motivated and refused to cooperate fully with him.
Ramaphosa came to power three and a half years ago and promised to fight corruption.
He told the expert group that if he chooses to fight under Zuma’s leadership, he will face the risk of being fired. “If it doesn’t end, my ability to achieve change will be greatly restricted.”
Ramaphosa said that since taking office, he has made considerable progress in eliminating corruption by authorizing the national prosecutors and recently having auditors review the state’s COVID-19 pandemic funds.
However, Ramaphosa has been criticized for his slow actions in the corruption scandal that occurred during his rule.
His most recent Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, resigned earlier this month, and he faces charges of benefiting himself and his family through a communication contract related to COVID-19.
When Ramaphosa first attended the committee in April, he acknowledged that corruption has taken root within the ruling ANC, which has ruled the country since the end of apartheid in 1994.
He said that this approach involves some ANC members and leaders.
But on Wednesday, Ramaphosa promised to take action, saying the situation has changed.
“Now that the boundaries have been drawn, we will now deal with corruption very seriously,” he told the expert group. “You might say why you haven’t done this for so many years, but it’s better to be late than never.”
Ramaphosa’s testimony is scheduled for Thursday
The corruption investigation will make recommendations to the prosecutor at the end of September.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the number of attendance at the hearing was limited, although the opposition Democratic League leader John Steinhuissen and Ramaphosa’s wife Tshepo Motsepe were also in the audience.
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