President Cyril Ramaphosa says state capture and corruption are some of the biggest challenges faced by his administration. Image SABC News Sona
State capture one of the biggest challenges, says Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa says government had to restore credibility and efficiency in our public institutions like SARS.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says state capture and corruption are some of the biggest challenges faced by his administration. Image SABC News Sona
One of the biggest challenges President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration faced was state capture and corruption, he said during the State of the Nation Address (Sona).
Ramaphosa said one of his priorities was to dismantle the state’s criminal networks, which led to the prosecution of more than 200 people.
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WE HAD TO RESTORE OUR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS: RAMAPHOSA
“Our first priority was to put a decisive stop to state capture, to dismantle the criminal networks within the state and to ensure that perpetrators faced justice.”
“We had to do that so that we could restore our institutions and rebuild our economy. We appointed capable people with integrity to head our law enforcement agencies, government departments, security services and state companies, often through an independent and transparent processes,” he said.
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‘WE HAVE RSETORED CREDIBILITY AND EFFICIENCY IN SARS’
Ramaphosa said the credibility and efficiency of several institutions like the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have been restored and their performance improved. He said significant progress has been made in bringing those responsible for state capture to justice.
“Freezing orders of R14 billion have been granted to the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit for state capture-related cases, and around R8.6 billion in corrupt proceeds have been returned to the state,” he told the nation during his speech.
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DETERMINED TO STRENGTHEN OUR ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCIES
The President said that based on the recommendations of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, the government is determined to introduce further measures to strengthen our anti-corruption agencies, protect whistle-blowers, regulate lobbying, and prevent the undue influence of public representatives in procurement.
“We will not stop until every person responsible for corruption is held to account. We will not stop until all stolen money has been recovered. We will not stop until corruption is history,” he vowed.
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