RECORDED | Ramaphosa addresses the nation on action against state capture perpetrators

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on Sunday evening to outline the steps his government is taking to implement the state capture commission’s recommendations.

Commission chairperson chief justice Raymond Zondo handed over the fifth and final part of his state capture report to Ramaphosa in June. 

The report implicated dozens of high-profile individuals including former president Jacob Zuma, several ministers, other politicians, major businesspeople, companies and SOEs.

Ramaphosa has had several months to apply his mind to the report and on Saturday, advised National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula he would be submitting to parliament his response to the commission's recommendations.

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“The president’s response outlines the steps government is taking to implement the commission’s recommendations with respect to actions against the perpetrators of state capture and reforms to prevent future occurrence of state capture, as well as broader systemic reforms arising from the work of the commission,” said Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya.

ANC acting secretary-general Paul Mashatile said the party's national executive committee welcomed and supported recommendations aimed at strengthening the fight against corruption and state capture.

“The report will guide the organisation, its members and representatives as we strive to correct mistakes that have been made, and work with all in society to confront this period in our history, to end these practices and prevent them from happening again,” he said.

Zuma said on Saturday he believed he was the main target of the commission, and accused Zondo of bias.

“From the start of the state capture commission it became clear to me that justice Zondo, as chair of the commission, was not interested in establishing the truth, but was himself involved in building up the narrative of the state capture.

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“Justice Zondo was not a neutral judge leading a fact-finding commission, but was running a process of writing a report that would establish the guilt of all those who had been accused of state capture because of their known association to me. In my view, justice Zondo failed the test of his oath of office.”

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