ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe said on Friday he was opposed to the prosecution of leaders of the ruling party implicated in the Zondo commission report on state capture.
Speaking at an event in Limpopo, which he hosted with ANC deputy provincial chair Florence Redzalani as part of the ANC’s 110-year anniversary commemoration, Mantashe said the report should rather be used to review ANC mistakes and rebuild the organisation.
The first part of the report was this week handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa by the commission’s chairperson, acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
It found that the ANC not only folded its arms and allowed state capture to flourish, but in some instances proceeds of this form of corruption flowed to its party coffers.
Zondo said there had been time to intervene but either the governing party did not know what to do or could not be bothered to act.
On Friday Mantashe said: “We can use that report to hunt each other down and destroy everything that is in the movement, we can do that. Or we can use that report to look into the mistakes and weaknesses that are in that report and try to correct them. That is a better option for me.”
Mantashe, who appeared before the commission to give his version of events around upgrades to his homes in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng sponsored by Bosasa, which also faced corruption allegations, said the ANC should not use the commission report to “settle scores”.
In his 2018 testimony Mantashe denied knowledge that Bosasa had been responsible for the installations, the Mail & Guardian previously reported.
On Friday he told journalists that if the ANC failed to renew itself in the wake of the damning Zondo findings, then the report would not be worth it.
“We are the only party that humbled itself and went to the Zondo commission,” he said.
“Let me give you an example; the DA is a governing party and it’s running a province and a number of municipalities.
“It didn’t go to the commission and I can tell you many of the things that were happening everywhere else were happening in DA areas, but we are the only party that humbled itself and went to the Zondo commission and allowed the commission to cross-examine us,” he said.
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