South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed that his government would continue to tighten the noose around corruption during a National Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) May Day rally on Wednesday.
Addressing a crowd of 3,500 people at Cosatu’s 33rd ay Day celebrations at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont in Durban, Ramaphosa told the crowd that he wanted to rid the country of corruption.
“We are going to make sure those who are found to be accountable, have to be accountable before the law.
In the end, corruption is not only corruption against the state, it is corruption against the people of South Africa,” the president said.
He singled out the embattled state power utility Eskom, a victim of state capture, saying that government would be addressing the challenge that the power supply has posed for the country.
“We are working to ensure Eskom must never go back to the rot that was in there. We are cleaning up Eskom and those accountable are going to have to face the music.”
Ramaphosa noted that after 25 years of democracy, certain companies within the country still resisted transformation.
He added: “There are also those who continue to violate workers’ rights and pay poverty rates in our country. We want them to stop exploiting the working people in our country and violating the rights of our workers.”
NM/jn/APA