Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Ronald Lamola, says law enforcement agencies are taking action against those who committed corruption during the COVID-19 pandemic and those who looted Eskom and corrupted SARS during the years of state capture.
The Minister was speaking during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) debate in Parliament on Wednesday.
“It is public knowledge that people have been arrested, monies have been recovered for the theft on COVID-19. Through the SIU, money has been recovered that was [stolen] during COVID-19 and this government is continuing to work on building and strengthening the NPA.
Honing in on two institutions – Eskom and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) – which were looted and weakened during the height of State Capture, Lamola said the long arm of the law is now reaching those who were architects of the institutions’ dismantling.
“The two institutions, [SARS and Eskom] … were not broken down by cadre deployment, they were broken down by systematic corruption and not just by being led by black people. It was corrupt individuals.
“Those officials…we will allow the processes of the law to take its place with all people who have been arrested for the corruption at Eskom. Those individuals will be held to account, a free and a fair trial will ensue,” he said.
Concerning Gender based violence (GBV) and femicide, Lamola rebuffed assertions made during the SONA debate earlier in the day that law enforcement is not taking action against perptrators.
“On GBV, [there is a] 74% conviction rate across the country. Everyday our courts are convicting someone, giving them high sentences on a daily basis and this…is reality. [There are] 396 convictions from 420 cases, five additional [Thuthuzela Care Centre] sites were established from the 2021/2022 financial year bringing the total to 60.
“During the reporting period, 34 456 matters were reported to the Thuthuzela Care Centres. A conviction rate of 76%. So it is not true that there is no work that is being done. Indeed [GBV] continues to be a challenge but…this is a matter that we must all work together to resolve as a society. We must work to ensure that we eradicate all forms of gender based violence,” he said.
Turning to the economy, the Minister reminded Members of Parliament of the devastation that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought and continues to bring on South Africa’s economy.
He emphasised that government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) is already starting to bear fruit.
“It is not the state of disaster that led to unemployment. It was the pandemic of COVID-19…that affected a number of jobs…and all the issues that today led to this country struggling economically.
“We are now working to rebuild the economy and we are back to the pre-COVID-19 economic growth statistics. What we need is to build from there and we can do so if we resolve the energy crisis…we will be able to resolve the economic challenges of our country, the unemployment challenges and the high crime rate,” he said.
The Minister told the debate that government will continue to work towards resolving the challenges that are facing the country, guided by the direction given by President Ramaphosa during the SONA.
“We will continue, through the guiding SONA that the president has delivered, to resolve the challenges of electricity, to continue to resolve the challenges of water provision, to continue to resolve the challenges of unemployment [and] to continue to resolve the challenges of [gender based violence and femicide,” Lamola said.