Ramaphosa urges people to root out corruption

Pres Cyril Ramaphosa said people should root out corruption because corruption is killing the ruling party and the government.

“I really applaud comrades here and I say stand firm, do not be deterred, root out corruption. Root it out because that is the path that our forebearers have always wanted us to embark on. We cannot allow the ANC to forever descend into the quagmire of corruption and bad behaviour,” said Ramaphosa.

He was speaking on Saturday at the Thohoyandou Stadium where thousands of people from all corners of the Limpopo province gathered for the provincial launch of the African National Congress (ANC) manifesto.

He referred to the money lost in the VBS Mutual heist and said the issue was being taken seriously. “We have now upped our efforts. We are at an advanced stage about forensic investigations. We are looking at it thoroughly, we have gathered enough evidence. People will be arrested, taken to court and prosecuted.”

He admitted that the party had been doing wrong things in the past few years, which had not benefited South Africans. According to him, they are ready to change things around and renew the party, saying that they had embarked on an organizational renewal. He also referred to the need to establish commissions of inquiry into the corruption of some ANC leaders and political killings. He said the ANC would emerge stronger and wiser after the commissions.

He has also admitted that, although the ANC leadership had been there when mistakes had been made in the past, they were committed to correcting them. He commended the ANC leadership in Limpopo for removing some party leaders implicated in the looting and the collapsing of VBS mutual bank. Provincial deputy chairperson and former Vhembe district executive mayor Florence Radzilani and treasurer Danny Msiza were removed from the PEC after the Reserve Bank report implicated them in the VBS saga. Officials of seven municipalities, including mayors, were also fired.

After the rally on Saturday, he also visited the bereaved families of the late Samwu senior officials, Ronald Mani and Timmy Musetsho, who were gunned down a few weeks ago.

 

Date:21 February 2019

By: Silas Nduvheni

Read: 826