Cyril did SA proud by restoring NPA’S crime-fighting unit
President Cyril Ramaphosa gets pilloried every day by his detractors in the ANC and by ordinary South Africans who want him to succeed but are frustrated by his chameleonlike speed on dealing with the country’s challenges.
Yet, on Sunday evening last week, he did one big and extremely wonderful thing.
We have not praised him enough for it. Indeed, the president’s address to the nation came after so many gaffes by his administration that it was easy to just dismiss his entire delivery.
But there is a giddying golden nugget there and it is this: the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate will become a permanent body.
With this one act, Ramaphosa has restored the NPA’S ability to investigate and prosecute highprofile individuals across society.
We should all be singing and dancing with joy.
This is hopefully the beginning of the return of the Scorpions, the crime-fighting unit of advocates, detectives, forensic auditors and others that brought people such as Schabir Shaik, Tony Yengeni, the Fidentia crooks and others to court and sent them to jail.
In 2008, the ANC under Jacob Zuma was in such a hurry to get its president off the hook from his alleged crimes of corruption that it dismantled the Scorpions with a speed we have yet to see take place with any legislative project in our country.
The ANC was shameless in its acts. The ruling party’s secretary-general at the time, Gwede Mantashe, told Business Day that “the ANC had created a monster in the Scorpions, and this monster had to be undone”.
Maggie Sotyu, then chair of the portfolio committee on safety and security and later rewarded with a deputy ministry by the grateful Zuma, declared: “The Scorpions are going ... we are here to implement the policies of the ruling party.”
Ramaphosa’s announcement is a total repudiation of that cowardly, disgusting, treasonous act.
By disbanding the Scorpions despite the cries and pleas of the people of SA, the ANC opened the doors for state capture to take place and for crime to get even worse than it was at the time.
It opened the door for corrupt, mediocre individuals to be appointed by Zuma to the top of the NPA, the Hawks, the SA Police Service and other state bodies which could shield him from prosecution.
The disbanding of the Scorpions is one of the most corrupt acts ever to have been taken by the ANC collectively.
It is the most corrupt act to have been taken by any MP in postapartheid SA.
All 252 MPS who voted to disband the Scorpions should be shamed in public. If you meet one of them in the street be sure to give him a piece of your mind.
Many of these politicians claim to be standing for “the people” today but, in 2008, they were Zuma’s spineless henchmen and women. They are personally responsible for where we are now as a nation.
Don’t forget those names. Here are some of them: the former sports minister Ngconde Balfour; the current deputy minister Obed Bapela; Hendrietta Bogopane-zulu, Mnyamezeli Booi, Yunus Carrim (a good man who handed his soul to Zuma on a platter); Jeremy Cronin (yes, the great and principled communist himself); Johnny De Lange, Sello Dithebe, Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma (no surprises there — she is still shilling for Zuma today), Geoff Doidge, Malusi Gigaba (now we know why), Themba Godi, Derek Hanekom (one of Ramaphosa’s campaign honchos), Barbara Hogan (sadly), Bantu Holomisa, and John Jeffery.
Some of the names on the list will break your heart. Trevor Manuel voted to disband the Scorpions. How could he see out the Scorpions given what he knew about the centrality of law enforcement to the health of the economy?
Nosiviwe Mapisa-nqakula predictably voted yes to this calumny. Baleka Mbete (who famously accompanied a convicted felon to the gates of prison) was in, Nhlanhla Nene voted yes, and the current foreign minister Naledi Pandor was also in.
It is a who’s who of SA luminaries.
These people were elbowing each other out of the way to vote “yes” to the disbandment of the Scorpions and thus bring our country to the brink of collapse.
Not one of them said “no”. Like the sheep they are, like the fools they are, they followed their discredited, corrupt, leader in their hundreds.
Vincent Smith? He voted yes. Now we know why. Lindiwe Sisulu? She was in. The loudmouthed Sotyu? Of course she was in — this must have been a great victory for her. Lechesa Tsenoli voted yes and so did that great man of integrity, Ben Turok.
The ANC gave Zuma a licence to loot.
Whatever his faults, Ramaphosa must be heartily congratulated for bringing back an independent crime-fighting unit into our arsenal against corruption.
Many of his comrades will hate him for it, but we, the people, appreciate it.