From GBV to corruption — five quotes from Cyril Ramaphosa's Q&A
President Cyril Ramaphosa answered questions from members of the National Assembly on Thursday.
The president was asked about gender-based violence, Covid-19 related corruption, maladministration and SA's debt.
Here are five quotes from his responses:
Gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF)
“After the presidential summit on GBVF in November of 2018, and after extensive consultations that were held, these consultations resulted in the drafting and adoption of a national strategic plan. The implementation of the plan commenced on 1st of May 2020. The plan recognises that the struggle against GBV and femicide requires collective as well as a strategic type of leadership.”
Tender system
“The National Treasury has taken steps to tighten procurement regulations. These measures will strengthen the ongoing work of the auditor-general to audit in real time, all Covid related expenditure. Perhaps the greatest defence is to make the entire process much more transparent and open to public scrutiny as well.”
Corruption
“For the very first time, we have 11 agencies in government working together, looking at all acts of corruption, from a tax point of view to a governance point of view, to every little move, whether it's money that has been moving in whatever centres — that is being looked at, and we are going to make great progress. It is not the president's duty to arrest people.”
SA's debt
“As our economy has suffered from the effects of the pandemic, as well as the measures we have taken to contain its spread, we've also had to mobilise additional resources to mount an effective public health response and support companies, workers and households that Covid-19 has put under a great deal of distress ... as a consequence of our decisive and necessary response to this pandemic, government debt is expected to reach R3.9 trillion in 2020/2021.”
Covid-19 worsened economic challenges
“When the Covid-19 pandemic befell us, already our fiscal position was quite challenged, but we found that we needed more resources. As we looked around, we did know that we would need to get an injection of loan finance, be it from the local market or from the international market. The IMF allocated money to many countries in the world to make sure that they deal with Covid-19. The whole world knew that Covid-19 was going to result in difficulties for many countries in the world and they made a contribution of $4.2bn.”
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