President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that he would appoint a cabinet committee to deal with corruption in Covid-19 procurement was an insufficient response, said Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference.
Saying the scandal denoted ‘severe lack of ethical leadership’, Bishop Sipuka said that those implicated in corruption needed to be identified, prosecuted and punished.
‘We wish to remind the president that the time for inter-ministerial committees, commissions of enquiries and political compromises is now over. We want to see the immediate suspension, investigation, arrests and prosecution of those involved, irrespective of who they are’, the bishop said.
South Africa needed to reintroduce a dedicated and specialised anti-corruption agency, a transparent tendering process, as well as effective moral regeneration to rebuild the ethical fibre of the country.
‘During this difficult time in our nation when the lives and livelihoods of millions of people are at stake, the country cannot afford high levels of trust deficit in the government and the office of the president,’ Biship Sipuka said.
‘In the name of the voiceless and the poor whose means of survival is stolen from them by criminals posing as leaders, we expect the immediate response to these demands.’