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The latest annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) confirms what South Africans have come to know under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s term of office: that his administration is more corrupt than that of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

According to the latest global ranking of corruption perceptions, South Africa has fallen to its lowest level ever recorded, scoring an abysmal 41 out of 100 on this globally respected index.

According to the rankings, the endemic corruption of the Ramaphosa administration has reduced our country to a “flawed democracy.”

Ramaphosa is directly and personally responsible for South Africa’s plunge on the rankings.

The State Capture Commission confirmed that ANC cadre deployment forms the foundation for capture and corruption. Ramaphosa is the former chairman of the corrupt deployment committee. He is also currently defending this corruption against the DA’s court action to declare cadre deployment unconstitutional.

This crisis of corruption, which is having a severely negative impact on investment and job creation, is epitomised by the latest scandal involving Paul Mashatile, the deputy president of the country who serves solely at the discretion of Ramaphosa.

Instead of taking firm action against Mashatile based on reports of a pattern of corruption and capture that even exceed those involving former President Zuma, Rampahosa has cowered away from it.

This then begs the question: if Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC can now suspend Jacob Zuma, why can they not suspend Paul Mashatile and every other cabinet member implicated in state capture?

Just like Ramaphosa is now protecting Mashatile, the party also shielded Zuma for decades from consequences for his corruption, as recently admitted by Fikile Mbalula. It was only when Zuma started posing an electoral threat, that the ANC suddenly decided to act against him. It appears that leaders in the ANC, like Zuma and Mashatile, are free to loot as much as they want, as long as they don’t break ranks from the party.

Last week, it was revealed that during Mashatile’s tenure as MEC for Human Settlements in Gauteng, his department paid R134 million to a company owned by ANC donor Edwin Sodi for a housing project in Diepsloot that did not deliver a single house. This was one part out of a total of R828 million that was paid to Sodi by the department for various supposed projects. It was also previously revealed that Mashatile used Sodi’s luxury mansion on the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town on several occasions.

This is in addition to millions of Rands in loans granted by the Gauteng provincial government to a company owned by Nceba Nonkwelo, Mashatile’s son-in-law. In turn, proceeds were funneled to another company that owns a R37 million mansion in Waterfall Estate where Mashatile had been living. A forensic audit launched following the revelations confirmed that the awarding of loans to Nonkwelo violated the Public Finance Management Act.

South Africa’s fall in the CPI ranking confirms that Ramaphosa has betrayed the anti-corruption promises he made before the State Capture Commission. He has consistently shielded fellow ANC cadres implicated before the commission. He has consistently failed to act against members of his own Cabinet who are implicated in brazen acts of corruption, including Minister Blade Nzimande and Deputy President Mashatile.

The DA reiterates our call for Cyril Ramaphosa to come out of hiding and take action against Mashatile.

If he fails to do so, the DA will again step in to lead while Ramaphosa cowers.

While Ramaphosa may have resigned himself to turning South Africa into a global corruption basket-case, the DA is committed to rescuing our country from the scourge of corruption and state capture.

Issued by John Steenhuisen MP - Leader of the Democratic Alliance