LETTER: The president must send corrupt comrades to prison
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The old proverb “when the wicked rule, the people groan,” is increasingly proving true every day in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration. The time for talking and empty promises are over. Ramaphosa can no longer act shocked whenever he hears and knows about his own comrades and senior government officials who are allegedly involved in Covid-19 corruption.
The president’s own spokesperson, Khusela Diko, and her husband have been implicated in multimillion-rand Covid-19 corruption in Gauteng. The president needs to show leadership by decisively dealing with this cancer. The time for useless commissions of inquiries and interministerial task teams is over. South Africans want to see politicians, ministers and former ministers, MECs and their families who are stealing from the pandemic funds, sent to prison.
The president needs to note that South Africans are tired of this large scale corruption. This grand looting spree is happening during the crisis, during the time when government is taking urgent and extraordinary actions to deal with the pandemic. The president also needs to take urgent action in dealing with the Covid-19 thieves.
This he can do by establishing special Covid-19 courts and appointing prosecutors. During the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup the government dedicated about 56 rooms in district and regional courts as special courts in the nine host cities, specifically to deal with the cases. Equipped with experts, these special courts operated throughout the event to speedily prosecute perpetrators. Special Covid-19 courts should be established on a similar model.
This open-season looting is happening as the backdrop when the country is facing negative growth and bleeding jobs as a result of the lockdown. The unemployment rate has shot to more than 30%, with fears and warnings from experts that it could climb as high as 50% thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an opportune time for Ramaphosa to prove to the international community and the nation how serious he really is about dealing with corruption in his government once and for all. After all, this is the promise he made to the people when he campaigned to be president.
Vuyolwethu Zungula, MP
President of ATM
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za. (mailto:letters@businesslive.co.za.) Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
The president’s own spokesperson, Khusela Diko, and her husband have been implicated in multimillion-rand Covid-19 corruption in Gauteng. The president needs to show leadership by decisively dealing with this cancer. The time for useless commissions of inquiries and interministerial task teams is over. South Africans want to see politicians, ministers and former ministers, MECs and their families who are stealing from the pandemic funds, sent to prison.
The president needs to note that South Africans are tired of this large scale corruption. This grand looting spree is happening during the crisis, during the time when government is taking urgent and extraordinary actions to deal with the pandemic. The president also needs to take urgent action in dealing with the Covid-19 thieves.
This he can do by establishing special Covid-19 courts and appointing prosecutors. During the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup the government dedicated about 56 rooms in district and regional courts as special courts in the nine host cities, specifically to deal with the cases. Equipped with experts, these special courts operated throughout the event to speedily prosecute perpetrators. Special Covid-19 courts should be established on a similar model.
This open-season looting is happening as the backdrop when the country is facing negative growth and bleeding jobs as a result of the lockdown. The unemployment rate has shot to more than 30%, with fears and warnings from experts that it could climb as high as 50% thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an opportune time for Ramaphosa to prove to the international community and the nation how serious he really is about dealing with corruption in his government once and for all. After all, this is the promise he made to the people when he campaigned to be president.
Vuyolwethu Zungula, MP
President of ATM
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za. (mailto:letters@businesslive.co.za.) Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.