Johannesburg - The uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) has slammed growing corruption allegations linked to Covid-19 relief funds and called on the government and the ANC to act tougher on those implicated.
The MKMVA held a briefing on Tuesday following the meeting of its national executive committee which was held over the weekend.
MKMVA president Kebby Maphatsoe said the association had expected the ANC NEC under President Cyril Ramaphosa to act tough and to be intolerant to corruption but that “they continue to fail to take decisive action”.
“The MKMVA demands that all corruption must be cleaved out open to the bone and cleaned up without fear or favour. This will be possible if factionalism is rooted out.
“Specifically, also the way in which selective outrage against only certain manifestations of corruption is used as an odious tool in factional battles,” Maphatsoe said.
Maphatsoe said the Covid-19 saga would be Ramaphosa’s litmus test as he used the issue of corruption as the basis of his campaign for ANC presidency.
“The president campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket and for unity in the ANC. To successfully lynch the boil of corruption that is now poisoning the whole body of our liberation movement, factionalism and selective morality that destroys unity must be rooted out,” he said.
He called on Ramaphosa to take tough action Covid-19 plunderers even if they were closer to him.
This comes as Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko has taken leave of absence from her post amid a scandalous multi-million contract which was awarded to his husband and then cancelled under questionable circumstances for the supply of personal protective equipment.
“For the sake of the restoration of the credibility of the ANC, the MKMVA insists that our president must act decisively against all the Covid-19 emergency fund looters, no matter what their proximity to him maybe.
“He certainly has the constitutional powers to do so, and has the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), and other security agencies at his disposal to act immediately,” Maphatsoe said.
IOL