President Cyril Ramaphosa testifies at corruption probe into previous South African government

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared for a second day’s testimony on August 12 before the Commision of Inquiry into State Capture. The testimony comes weeks after widespread riots and deadly unrest broke out following former President Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment last month.

What did Ramaphosa say?

Ramaphosa, who served deputy president under Zuma, said the country’s intelligence was weakened by corruption. “We are through a period of state capture that basically debilitated variety of state institutions,” Ramaphosa said, using the term in South Africa for corruption of the state. The State Security Agency, he said, “was one among the agencies that was compromised.”

On August 11, Ramaphosa told the commission he was largely within the dark about the extent of corruption and avoided addressing it because he thought it might be better to tackle it from within. Ramaphosa said at one point he had considered stepping down.

“While i might have earned praise from many quarters, this action would have significantly impaired my ability to contribute, to cause an end to state capture,” Ramaphosa said.

What is the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture?

The commission is an investigation into allegations of corruption and fraud within the public sector and organs of state during Zuma’s time as president from 2009 to 2018. When Zuma announced the establishment of the inquiry in January 2018, he involved there to be cooperation with the commission. “I trust that we’ll all respect the method and place no impediments to stop the commission from doing its work,” he said at the time.

Many of the allegations concerning corruption during the Zuma presidency involve the Gupta family, three Indian brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh. The businessmen managed to foster close ties with the Zuma family. There are countless allegations of corrupt relationships between the brothers and senior officials.

The family is accused of influencing the hiring and firing of state ministers, including the country’s minister of finance . The brothers deny the allegations.

Probe sparks outbreak of violence

Ultimately it had been Zuma’s failure to seem before the commission that then led to him becoming the country’s first democratically elected president to receive a custodial sentence from the Constitutional Court. it had been his subsequent imprisonment in July that was the catalyst for an explosion of violence and looting. Over 300 people in South Africa were killed during days of violent clashes.

The country’s security agencies appeared slow to reply initially .The security vacuum saw armed citizens effectively take the role of police, who were completely swamped by the extent of unrest.

Ramaphosa’s government said what happened during those days, was an attempted insurrection. In response to the size of unrest in two of the country’s provinces, it had been decided to deploy 25,000 troops to assist police pacify things .