The battle to become President Jacob Zuma’s successor began in earnest this past weekend after deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, alongside former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas,\u00a0called for an official judicial commission of inquiry into state capture.<\/p>\n
Speaking in front of a crowd of hundreds in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, Ramaphosa all but directly called out President Zuma and the Gupta family by name, and offered to help establish the commission as an independent body to help investigate the claims.<\/p>\n
“We know there is an elephant in the room, but we don\u2019t want to talk about it,” said Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
“There should be a judicial commission of inquiry. It is possibly the only process that will be able to get to the bottom of these allegations and determine the truthfulness or lack thereof,” he said.<\/p>\n
Repeatedly referring to the ANC’s December conference at which the party is expected to announce a new leader and presidential candidate, Ramaphosa also warned that\u00a0unless the party’s internal issues of corruption was addressed immediately, it stood to lose the 2019 national election.<\/p>\n
“The allegations that there are private individuals who exercise undue influence over state appointments and procurement decisions should be a matter of great concern to our movement,” said Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
“These practices, where you have the sense that decisions are being taken elsewhere, they threaten the integrity of the state, undermine our economic progress, and diminish our ability to change the lives of our people.”<\/p>\n