By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Cyril Ramaphosa appears at the State Capture Commission as the country’s President.
The questioning of President Cyril Ramaphosa by four evidence leaders in a marathon day of testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has exposed how the ANC’s shadow state has come to dominate how South Africa works through a set of parallel party practices mostly obscure to ordinary citizens.
Evidence leader Paul Pretorius revealed that the ANC’s Deployment Committee is still mighty. Last Friday night, 6 August, the commission finally received some minutes of the committee which had been requested or subpoenaed from the ANC, and this allowed Pretorius to piece together key evidence.
Ramaphosa defended deployment, but repeatedly insisted that, “for government positions, in the end, the legally mandated process must be followed”, adding: “it’s not an appointing committee, it’s a recommending committee”. He said deployment was important to achieve social ends like gender equality and that the ANC could not appoint judges.
Until now, the Deployment Committee’s methods, power, and processes have been opaque, leading to the notion of a shadow state operating out of the field of public scrutiny or accountability.
Ramaphosa faced extensive questions about how the Eskom war room operated when he was deputy president and why he (and not the board) had recommended that Tshediso Matona be replaced as the utility’s CEO in March 2015.
Watch proceeedings below as testimony continues:
Video Courtesy of ENCA.