President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Jacques Nelles
President Cyril Ramaphosa seems to think his administration is winning the fight against corruption.
The president shared statistics about his administration’s efforts to curb corruption in his weekly newsletter “From the Desk of the President”.
South Africa has been bedevilled by endemic corruption and it is one of the greatest impediments to the country’s growth and development.
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In his newsletter, Ramaphosa said two years since the Fusion Centre was established, almost R659 million has been restored to the state’s coffers through the preservation and recovery of proceeds of crime.
Ramaphosa said approximately R613 million in suspected criminal proceeds were also frozen.
“The Fusion Centre was initially set up to investigate corruption around Covid-related procurement. Its mandate is now being expanded to include money-laundering, fraud, maladministration, terrorist financing and other serious financial crimes,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the fight against corruption requires both political will and independent, capable crime-fighting institutions.
“In my first State of the Nation Address, in 2018, I made a commitment to turn the tide against corruption in our public institutions and fight fraud and collusion in the private sector with the same intensity and purpose.
“Since then, we have been working hard to strengthen and support our law enforcement and related agencies,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa claims these efforts are producing results.
He said over the past eight years, the SIU has recovered funds and assets to the value of R2.6 billion and set aside contracts to the value of R18 billion.
“A total of 119 cases worth more than R13 billion have been enrolled by the SIU at the Special Tribunal.”
Ramaphosa also added that last year, Sars completed 25 lifestyle audits to the value of over R450 million to resolve discrepancies between declared income and an individual’s lifestyle.
On Monday, Ramaphosa announced yet another panel to fight corruption.
The president appointed a nine-member National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council to help him formulate approaches to fighting corruption.
“The council will bring together stakeholders from across society to oversee the implementation of government’s anti-corruption strategy. As we continue to build on these successes, we are confident that even if it takes time, those who stole and looted resources meant for the people will face the consequences of their actions.”
Ramaphosa said the new body will advise government on the critical preventative measures, institutional capabilities and resources needed to prevent a recurrence of state capture and to stamp out fraud and corruption in South Africa.
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