South Africa: "Too little has been done" to fight corruption, deplores judge

One year after the submission of a damning report on the extent of state corruption in South Africa, "too little has been done", criticized associations and Judge Raymond Zondo, head of the country's highest court, on Thursday.

For four years, Judge Raymond Zondo headed the commission of enquiry into rampant corruption during former president Jacob Zuma's nine years in power (2009-2018). Exactly one year ago, he delivered the long-awaited conclusions of more than 400 days of hearings involving more than 300 witnesses.

In the six-part report, Jacob Zuma is accused of having been "a central player" in the system set up to plunder public money for the benefit of a circle of politicians and powerful businessmen of Indian origin, the Gupta brothers.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was called to testify before the commission, has repeatedly promised to crack down on corruption. But no arrests have been announced since the Zondo report was submitted.

"One year is a reasonable amount of time to reflect" on the commission's work, Raymond Zondo said on Thursday at a conference in Pretoria on the impact of the report and its implications.

"It is appalling that so little has been done", deplored the South African Council of Churches (SACC) in a press release. The organization called on the government to "move more swiftly to implement the recommendations made in the report".

The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution said that "too little has been done". In a press release, the NGO said it was "imperative that political leaders show South Africans that the work of the Commission has not been in vain, and that real change will follow from its recommendations".

According to Judge Zondo, "it is important that prosecutions are brought because there must be consequences". In particular, he called for the creation of a permanent anti-corruption commission.