Cape Town - "The NPA and the Hawks should be sitting in those hearings, writing the dockets as we speak."
This was the remarks from the newly elected Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader John Steenhuisen after he made an appearance at the Cape Town Press Club on Monday.
Steenhuisen's term as chief whip came to an end with the resignation of DA leader Mmusi Maimane last week, he was then elected on Saturday.
Steenhuisen was present at the press club to share his insights and addressed the way forward for the DA and the current challenges facing the official opposition after a highly contested federal executive election, which saw Helen Zille elected chairperson.
During the Q&A session after his talk, he didn't hold back on his views of the Zondo Commission.
"What we have to do is learn from the experience of State Capture and firewall the state to ensure that it never happens again," Steenhuisen said.
"And we only firewall the state is we do a number of thing, one of which is introducing a consequence framework to South Africa. There are no consequences for people who do wrong in South Africa, and it is staggering that after everything that has come out of the Zondo Commission...Where are the high profile arrests?"
"The only people who have been arrested are the Angelo Agrizzi's and one or two of the smaller players. Politicians have been mentioned, and some of them are still sitting in Parliament, some of them occupying very serious positions as chairpersons of committees. No consequences.
"If you want to rule out corruption and maladministration in South Africa, the surest most effective way to do it is to make absolutely sure everybody knows that if you do something wrong, you will be prosecuted, you will be arrested, and you will be tried and there will be consequences."