It is a miscalculated move by President Cyril Ramaphosa to assemble a committee of politicians in the form of cabinet members to deal with suspected corruption in the Covid-19 budget.
A wiser decision should have been to instruct the head of Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit to assemble a team of capable investigators with skills ranging from accountants, engineers, legal experts, auditors, IT and data analysts to handle the matter.
The only intention I can deduce from this decision of assembling a team of politicians, who are not qualified investigators, is to cover corruption and prosecute only those who are not in the good books of the president.
We are just politicising criminality which needs to be faced head-on without delay.
The “new dawn” has arrived with the cover-up of serious corruption instead of dismantling it as earlier promised.
— Phendule Mbewu, an ANC member, via e-mail