I stayed on as Zuma’s deputy to bring about change - Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa has told the commission of inquiry into state capture why he chose to remain as deputy president during the tenure of former president Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa returned to the commission on Wednesday.
He told the commission that he only found out about state capture in the media and through the Office of the Public Protector.
He's said before that, he was unaware of what he described as “hidden corrupt practices:.
But in December 015, Zuma removed former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and replaced him with Des van Rooyen.
Ramaphosa told the commission that former director-general at the Treasury Lungisa Fuzile contacted him in his capacity as deputy president.
Fuzile detailed how the department was being captured.
"I chose to remain in my position as deputy president, not to resign, not to acquiesce and join in, or not to be confrontational but to work with others in the executive to resist the abuses and bring about change where we could and to sustain the work of social and economic transformation,” Ramaphosa said.
"This meant staying in the arena with the challenges, limitations, and frustrations inherent in doing so, but it was the course of action that had the greatest likelihood of bringing state capture to and end and restoring the institutions of state and defending our democracy.”
He said governance is not just a technical function but an inherently political one and he and others in the ANC had to balance the forces of power.
"That was among the reasons I chose to remain in the position of deputy president, why I work with others through the democratic process to shift the balance of forces and why ultimately I agreed to make myself available for the position of President of the African National Congress in 2017.”
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