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Home » Latest News » South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Takes Decisive Action On Crackdown

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Takes Decisive Action On Crackdown


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By Ashok Ramsarup :: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has hit out over corruption, describing it as a heinous crime.  This comes in the backdrop of damning allegations of corruption by some “senior party members “. The latest allegation follows tender claims implicating Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku and Amabhaca Chief Madzikane II Thandisizwe in a multi-million rand personal protective equipment.

President Ramaphosa said  in a report that his administration had empowered law enforcement officers to probe all COVID-19 tender corruption allegations.

Ironically, Diko’s wife Khusela Diko, Presidential spokesperson and Masuku’s wife, a city of Johannesburg official, were also mentioned in the tender debacle.

Ramaphosa made it clear that corruption during a national disaster was a particularly heinous type of crime, and perpetrators would be dealt with decisively and harshly.

He said: “It is difficult to understand the utter lack of conscience that leads a businessperson who has heeded the call to provide lifesaving supplies during a devastating pandemic that’s affected the entire world to inflate the price of a surgical mask by as much as 900%.”

Ramaphosa said he could not fathom nor can one explain nor can one explain why a councillor would stockpile emergency food parcels meant for the poor for their own family, or why another councillor would divert water tankers en-route to a needy community to their own home.

“It is impossible to discern what drives an entire family whose member stole funds meant for unemployed workers to go on a spending spree, buying cars, paying for renovations and beauty treatments, and even tombstones.

“Attempting to profit from a disaster that is claiming the lives of our people every day is the action of scavengers. It is like a pack of hyenas circling wounded prey, as the country faces the greatest health emergency in over a century,” said Ramaphosa.

He said South Africa was witnessing theft by individuals and companies with no conscience whilst stories of alleged corruption in the procurement and deployment of personal protective equipment to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, of companies hiking the prices of essential items during the lockdown and of the illegal diversion of state resources meant for the vulnerable and destitute.

The Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) has called on President Ramaphosa to take action against those implicated and bring the offenders to book that had been awarded PPE tenders.

Ramaphosa added:  “This is a reminder that corruption remains the single biggest threat to the survival of South Africa and its economy as the lockdown affecting the lives of the people.”

Ashok Ramsarup is award-winning senior journalist of South Africa 🇿🇦

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