By: Makhosini Mgitywa
There is a mistake that President Ramaphosa’s supporters make when they try to defend him on this Glencore scandal.
They say that he appeared in front of the state capture commission and clarified his (past?) relationship with Glencore. The mistake the president’s surrogates make is to ignore that at the time Glencore was a reputable multinational company, at least to many South Africans.
Then Glencore had not been found guilty of corrupting, among others, African governments.
Had it been known that Glencore was corrupt, even the line of questioning the president was subjected to would have been vastly different. The president’s position at the commission and also his evidence was based on Glencore being a reputable company.
His own answers to the commission would have been different had it been known that the company he was associated with, was corrupt.
All that said, Mr Ramaphosa ran for, and won, the ANC and country presidencies on the platform of renewal and anti-corruption.
That places an additional obligation on him to state, or restate, his position regarding Glencore, now that it’s known that the company is in fact corrupt.
*Makhosini Mgitywa is a commentator and former government spokesperson.