President Cyril Ramaphosa will appear at the Zondo Commission on tomorrow and Thursday to answer questions about what he did or did not do when the Gupta brothers allegedly captured the state.
Ramaphosa will be appearing in his role as president of the African National Congress (ANC) and will be expected to answer questions regarding both his personal role and that of his party in the state capture project.
In May he will return to the Commission in his capacity as state president. This week he will explain his party’s role and what he did when he was deputy president of the ANC under Jacob Zuma.
According to the Sunday Times, the commission will also seek to get Ramaphosa’s view on the ANC’s defence of former president Jacob Zuma when he was president, particularly in the motions of no-confidence against Zuma.
Ramaphosa, it is suggested, will probably echo ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe’s sentiment during his appearance before the commission last week. Mantashe said the ANC had shielded Zuma because it was in the best interests of the party.
Ramaphosa was among the ANC officials who spoke out publicly against Zuma in 2017 when he fired former finance minister Pravin Gordhan. However, Ramaphosa was planning to stand against Zuma’s candidate at the electoral conference in 2017.
The president will be asked about his defence of the ANC when the party rejected a motion by the Democratic Alliance in 2016 for an inquiry into the influence of the Gupta family.
Ramaphosa will also be asked about whether or not, under his leadership, the ANC has taken steps to remove the impunity seemingly accorded senior party figures that characterised the leadership of his predecessor.
[Image: GCIS]