Ramaphosa can’t win renewal battle where it matters most

President Cyril Ramaphosa came to power promising to reverse the decline of both the state and the ruling party. 

What his supporters eagerly read into this at the time was a commitment to ending the corruption rife in both. Five years later, they and the president have learnt that there are limits to tackling corruption in the top echelons of the ANC and that this risks seeing corruption continue apace within the state machinery.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has not — despite  the wealth of criticism and weaknesses on display in court — been asleep at the wheel. It has enrolled 29 state capture cases in court but to date only one has reached the trial stage. 

The Nulane Investments fraud and money-laundering trial got underway in the Bloemfontein high court last week, with former Transnet board member Iqbal Sharma among those in the dock. But, at this stage, there is no cause for optimism that his better-known fellow accused, Atul and Rajesh Gupta, might be surrendered to South Africa before 3 March, when the trial is due to end.

The department of justice is still waiting for a response to a note verbale it sent to Dubai in early December to ask for confirmation that Emirati authorities have all the information they need to process an extradition request filed in July.