ANC backs Hawks, SIU, even as they nab party backers

Despite one of its admitted backers - and party and government figures - being arrested in a coordinated Hawks and NPA Investigative Directorate raid, the ANC has come out and backed law enforcement agencies for their work in clamping down on fraud and corruption.

Speaking on Monday evening, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa said the law enforcement agencies’ work was “commendable”, as he endorsed their efforts.

He was speaking after a two-day meeting of the the ANC’s powerful national executive committee  on Friday and Monday. Ramaphosa was briefing the media on the outcomes of the lekgotla of the NEC, the party’s highest decision-making body in between national conferences.

The lekgotla resolved to endorse the work of the various law enforcement agencies, such as the Hawks, the SIU and the Investigative Directorate, after they arrested tenderprenuers last week, including Edwin Sodi and Durban businessman Toshan Pandy, and former ANC MP Vincent Smith, on various charges of fraud and corruption.

The state law enforcement agencies also arrested several senior government officials who are linked to the businessmen, after they were flagged as having facilitated their questionable government contracts.

“The work that is being done by law enforcement agencies at the moment is commendable and we reaffirm that we must leave no stone unturned in terms of dealing with crime and corruption,” said Ramaphosa.

“The ANC commits to an approach that balances the need for the detection of the movement of bribes, the use of financial systems to launder illicit money flows, and the human rights need to allow for honest living including engaging in business practices including where a citizen has ceased to be entrusted with a prominent public function.”

The lekgotla had also resolved to ensure there were further consultations on how to regulate the matter of “politically exposed” people conducting business with the government.

The issue has come under sharp public scrutiny after the husband of Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, emerged as one of the prominent people who benefited handsomely from dodgy dealing related to the government’s Covid-19 personal protective equipment tenders.

Diko has since taken leave from her official duties since the matter is in under investigation, as have Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku and his wife, Loyiso, after they were implicated in the saga.

The Dikos and the Masukus are family friends.

Several other top ANC figures have been implicated in PPE and other forms of corruption related to state capture.

“In this regard the lekgotla reaffirmed the position of the ANC and the government that the employees of the state should not conduct business with the government,” said Ramaphosa.

“At the same time, further consultations will be held among the alliance partners and in the legislatures across the political spectrum to find the most appropriate approach to the issue of other politically exposed persons conducting business with the state.”

The lekgotla had also resolved to prioritise the unity and renewal of the ANC, including the deployment of competent and capable leaders to key positions in state institutions.

“To drive the process of social compacting and mobilisation, we need an ANC that is united, that is focused on the task at hand and with active presence at community level and all sectors of society.

“Strengthening and renewing the ANC therefore remains an absolute priority and the precondition for the deployment of capable cadres as public representative and in the state,” he said.

The lekgotla also adopted a post-Covid-19 economic recovery plan, which would focus on:

• Strengthening energy security;
• Localisation through industrialisation;
• A thriving local industrial base;
• Strengthening food security;
• Infrastructure investment and delivery that meets the National Development Programme goals;
• Support for tourism;
• Green economy interventions;
• Public employment programmes;
• Gender equality and economic inclusion of women and youth; and
• Macroeconomic policy interventions.

“In approaching these eight key economic focus areas the ANC supports a phased approach to our economic recovery. This first phase focused on saving lives and included a massive healthcare response,” Ramaphosa said.

Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe also attended the lekgotla, along with ANC deployees such as mayors and provincial government leaders.