'We will not stop until corruption is history,' vows Ramaphosa

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued a warning to those responsible for state capture, saying government would not stop until all of them have been held accountable. 

Ramaphosa said that while great progress had been made in bringing those responsible to justice, the job was not done. 

Delivering his State of the Nation Address on Thursday night, Ramaphosa said that while more than 200 people were currently being prosecuted, law enforcement agencies would even bring blue-chip companies to book.

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 President Ramaphosa has lauded the recovery of R8.6 billion in stolen funds and the freezing of assets worth R14 billion, which have been the ill-gotten gains of state capture. 

But he said the recovery efforts did not end there. 

"We will not stop until every person responsible for corruption is held to account. We will not stop until all stolen money has been recovered. We will not stop until corruption is history." 

Looking back over the country’s democracy, Ramaphosa said that state capture had probably caused the most damage. 

"There is much more work to be done to eradicate corruption completely. We are determined to introduce further measures to strengthen our anti-corruption agencies, protect whistle-blowers, regulate lobbying and prevent the undue influence of public representatives in procurement." 

Parliament is currently considering legislation that will make the Investigating Directorate a permanent entity with full investigating powers.