Justice Malala, national political commentator and journalist, speaking in East London yesterday, said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s key to South Africa’s economic recovery lay in giving strength back to SARS, the NPA and the Hawks.
This was because SA was on the verge of becoming “a Mafia state”, Malala told a crowd of 200 attending a “Justice in Motion” roadshow on politics and economy organised by financial services group PSG.
Over the next two years, Ramaphosa had to make sure these institutions returned to working for the benefit of all citizens, and not the politically connected few.
Malala said the institutions had lost their credibility, especially over the past four years, and he warned that should these institutions “try to please the new masters only, there will be more problems in this country.
“We have institutional uncertainty in the country because these institutions have been absent in the past four years.
“The Ramaphosa-led government should make it their priority to ensure that such institutions work, failing which, they will be deemed useless,” said Malala. “The last 10 years have taught us that we need strong institutions that have legitimacy. In the landscape now, there are so many people implicated in dastardly deeds, and nothing happens to them. So we have to ask what has happened to the institution that is supposed to do something about this?”
He said Ramaphosa’s election as both the ANC and the country’s president, was a positive for the country’s political and economical outlook.
One of the vital positives of Ramaphosa’s appointments was the rallying of the rand. “Investments have also picked up. Foreigners have never been this keen on South African stocks since 1997,” he said.
Malala said he was “delighted” by what he saw as a return to the “politics of principle” as opposed to the “politics of the stomach”.
He however said despite the confidence that South Africans and the international community felt in a Ramaphosa-led government, there were significant challenges to be overcome. He said the most pressing issue was the expropriation of land without compensation, one of the resolutions adopted by the ruling ANC in their December elective conference.
“Land will be a major sticking point which will be difficult for the ANC to implement and which will be used as a political football for years, especially ahead of next year’s poll.
Former President Jacob Zuma’s December promise of free higher education meant Ramaphosa had to find R40-billion a year, which would be tough, he said.
Other “headaches” for Ramaphosa would be to unite a fragmented SA, root out graft , pick up an ailing economy, and form the new cabinet.
He urged Ramaphosa to use the National Development Plan by implementing it as this might set the country back on the path of growth.
He urged people to focus on becoming a more active citizenry, saying civil societies were vital. “People need to stand up and speak because if we don't do that, we will go back to where we were before this new guard took over”. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
CR must ‘strengthen law enforcers’
This was because SA was on the verge of becoming “a Mafia state”, Malala told a crowd of 200 attending a “Justice in Motion” roadshow on politics and economy organised by financial services group PSG.
Over the next two years, Ramaphosa had to make sure these institutions returned to working for the benefit of all citizens, and not the politically connected few.
Malala said the institutions had lost their credibility, especially over the past four years, and he warned that should these institutions “try to please the new masters only, there will be more problems in this country.
“We have institutional uncertainty in the country because these institutions have been absent in the past four years.
“The Ramaphosa-led government should make it their priority to ensure that such institutions work, failing which, they will be deemed useless,” said Malala. “The last 10 years have taught us that we need strong institutions that have legitimacy. In the landscape now, there are so many people implicated in dastardly deeds, and nothing happens to them. So we have to ask what has happened to the institution that is supposed to do something about this?”
He said Ramaphosa’s election as both the ANC and the country’s president, was a positive for the country’s political and economical outlook.
One of the vital positives of Ramaphosa’s appointments was the rallying of the rand. “Investments have also picked up. Foreigners have never been this keen on South African stocks since 1997,” he said.
Malala said he was “delighted” by what he saw as a return to the “politics of principle” as opposed to the “politics of the stomach”.
He however said despite the confidence that South Africans and the international community felt in a Ramaphosa-led government, there were significant challenges to be overcome. He said the most pressing issue was the expropriation of land without compensation, one of the resolutions adopted by the ruling ANC in their December elective conference.
“Land will be a major sticking point which will be difficult for the ANC to implement and which will be used as a political football for years, especially ahead of next year’s poll.
Former President Jacob Zuma’s December promise of free higher education meant Ramaphosa had to find R40-billion a year, which would be tough, he said.
Other “headaches” for Ramaphosa would be to unite a fragmented SA, root out graft , pick up an ailing economy, and form the new cabinet.
He urged Ramaphosa to use the National Development Plan by implementing it as this might set the country back on the path of growth.
He urged people to focus on becoming a more active citizenry, saying civil societies were vital. “People need to stand up and speak because if we don't do that, we will go back to where we were before this new guard took over”. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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