South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday appeared before the state capture inquiry probing widespread corruption during former president Jacob Zuma’s 2009-2018 presidency, reported Reuters.
Ramaphosa served as Zuma’s deputy for four years from 2014 before succeeding him in February 2018. During his appearance before the inquiry commission, the South African president acknowledged that there was rampant state corruption during Zuma’s presidential tenure, but he said he chose not to resign as deputy president as that would have impaired his ability to bring an end to the graft.
“I had five options: resign; speak out; acquiesce and abet; remain and keep silent, or remain and resist,” Ramaphosa said.
The South African president said had he chosen to be confrontational under Zuma, he would have risked being fired. He said he decided to stay in order to “resist some of the more egregious and obvious abuses of power.”
It was Ramaphosa’s second appearance before the panel. He first appeared before the commission in April. At that time he admitted that graft had taken root within the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which has governed the nation since the end of the apartheid in 1994.
“State capture took place under our watch as the governing party,” he said back then.
He said the practice involved some ANC members and leaders.
Last month, the country’s top court handed a 15-month jail term to Zuma after he failed to testify before the inquiry commission that found evidence that proved that the former South African president allowed the Guptas, a wealthy Indian migrant business family who won lucrative contracts with state companies, to have undue influence over the government.
Zuma has denied all the allegations, saying that the inquiry is politically motivated. He refused to fully cooperate with it. The Gupta brothers have also repeatedly denied corruption accusations and are now believed to be living in Dubai.
