New anti-corruption unit gets mixed reaction
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Leader Julius Malema doubts
whether President Cyril Ramaphosa will receive the necessary political support
needed to ensure the success of a new unit within the National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA).
The comes after Ramaphosa announced the establishment of the unit during his State of the National Address (SONA) at the opening of Parliament on Thursday evening.
Ramaphosa told the National Assembly the unit will fight grand corruption and state capture.
It has since be likened to the former Scorpions, established by former President Thabo Mbeki, but disbanded later.
Malema believes if Ramaphosa is serious about fighting crime and corruption, he will not finish his term as either the president of the African National Congress (ANC) or the leader of the country.
"And if he doubts that, he must ask President Mbeki, who established the Scorpions like the president wants to do now. And the criminals in the ANC were so scared of such a crime-fighting machine and went against the president," says Malema.
The EFF leader adds Ramaphosa's plan is clear, however, he questions if the president's party will give him enough support to establish such a unit.
"If he continues to do that, he will arrest half the cabinet and half the national executive committee of the ANC."
However, ANC Deputy Secretary General, Jessie Duarte, says she does not doubt that president Cyril Ramaphosa will enjoy the political support from within the governing party to ensure the success of the new unit.
"If there is criminality deal with it, however, we must also say that there must be cautious about accusations that have no factual base because that begins to be a perception and peoples' lives are being ruined," says Duarte.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane believes the new unit will mean very little if it does not lead to the arrest of ANC politicians implicated at the commission of inquiry into state capture.
Maimane says this is yet another directorate, "another watching of the space."
"Rather than creating another directorate, let's get more police. Let's get a more honest police service so that we are only investigating politicians," says Maimane.
Police Minister Bheki Cele says the establishment of a new unit to prosecute cases involving grand corruption and state capture is the right way to go.
Cele doesn't believe the new unit will lead to tensions between the different law enforcement agencies.
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