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Ramaphosa may not be ‘the correct person’ to receive state capture report
Ramaphosa was the deputy president during the state capture era and has also been implicated by some witnesses at the Zondo commission
President Cyril Ramaphosa at the State Capture Commission in Braamfontein on 28 April 2021. Picture: Neil McCartney
Questions have been raised about whether it is permitted by law for President Cyril Ramaphosa to receive the report from the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, considering his own involvement in both the commission and the ANC.
Civil society organisation, Democracy in Action has written to the commission’s chairperson Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, to determine if there may be a conflict of interest in Ramaphosa’s receiving the report.
‘He was also a witness’
The group has based its query, among other things, on the fact that Ramaphosa was the deputy president during the state capture era, as well as him being implicated by some witnesses at the commission.
“The deputy president by that time was Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, during the years of state capture that the commission is inquiring. He was also head of ANC’s deployment so that means he played a very huge role in appointing some of the leaders in the SOEs,” Democracy in Action chairperson Thabo Mtsweni told Newzroom Afrika on Wednesday.
“He was also a witness during the state capture [proceedings]. Now you have got the situation where the president was at that time witness, now he must go and implement a report.
“Apart from that there’s few other people that mentioned his name. So we feel that the president might not be the correct person to receive this report.”
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Earlier this year, former Eskom executives – Brian Molefe and Matshela Koko – made allegations about Ramaphosa’s association with Optimum Coal Mine (OCM), which was then owned by Glencore, before the Guptas took over the mine.
Koko told Zondo he would “not rest peacefully” until he knew why Ramaphosa interfered in the “affairs of Eskom to instruct the board that was yet to meet to dismiss me”.
But Ramaphosa has argued against Koko’s claims, saying that his role as the chair of the technical war room was an oversight role.
The president previously said that he was looking forward to receiving the state capture report, assuring the public that he will implement Zondo’s recommendations.
Another extension
The commission, meanwhile, is set to approach the Pretoria High Court with an urgent application for yet another extension until February next year.
Zondo on Tuesday explained that “a lot of progress have been made” over the past few months, but some parts of the reports “will still need further work beyond the end of December”.
While Zondo previously pointed out there would only be a final report, he proposed that he would deliver his report in three parts.
The commission was expected to finalise the state capture report and hand it over to Ramaphosa by 31 December.
If granted, it will the sixth extension that has been granted to the commission since its establishment in 2018.
READ MORE: Zondo ‘cannot say’ whether Zuma was the architect of state capture
Ramaphosa will also join the commission’s extension application, TimesLive has reported.
The president is asking the court to provide clarify on whether he can decide when to publicly release the state capture report.
He further wants to know whether or not he is not bound to deliver the report to Parliament within two weeks of receipt.
The president is required “to submit a copy with an indication of his intentions regarding the implementation to Parliament within 14 days of releasing the report” as stated in a 2017 court order.
According to his court papers, Ramaphosa was of the view that it was up to him decide when to publicly release the final report, and thereafter submit it to Parliament.
