ANC MPs join Mkhize and Mashatile in rebranding themselves as corruption-busters

The African National Congress (ANC) is often painted these days as a party lacking a moral compass, but events at Parliament on Tuesday revealed that — at least partially — to be a slanderous lie.

What a sight it was to behold the likes of Mervyn Dirks, Lindiwe Sisulu and Bongani Bongo acting in accordance with the dictates of their own steely ethical codes, which simply would not allow them to vote down the independent report into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal.

MPs of such high-minded principles could not be expected to collude on a potential cover-up of corruption allegations against a sitting president. The very idea! These paragons of virtue would never stand for such a thing.

What’s that? Why yes, that is the very same Bongani Bongo who allegedly tried to bribe the leader of a parliamentary investigation into corruption at Eskom. Yes, the one who allegedly offered a “blank cheque” to make disagreeable evidence go away. He’s the same chap who had to abstain from the parliamentary vote on Tuesday because his unyielding conscience would not permit him to dismiss the findings of the Phala Phala investigation.

Yes, yes, that is the same Mervyn Dirks who was described by City Press in January as an “ardent supporter of former president Jacob Zuma and a prominent member of the so-called Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction”. Yes, the same Mervyn Dirks who criticised former ANC MP Makhosi Khoza when she took a stance against Zuma over corruption.  

Yes, goodness, that is the same Lindiwe Sisulu who dismissed the Zondo Commission as an “expensive way of dealing with corruption”, and referred to judges like Raymond Zondo as “mentally colonised”. The very same. What of it?

The message sent by these individuals is downright inspiring in these uncertain times: it is never, ever too late to suddenly — almost overnight — develop an extreme distaste for corruption, and an absolute passion for accountability.

And it’s not just them. Damascene conversions are everywhere.

Would you, for instance, like to see the ANC elect a leader at the party conference this weekend who is “organically incapable of corruption”?

Of course you would — and the good news is, there’s one available! His name is Zweli Mkhize, and he was described by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal as “organically incapable of self-seeking and corruption” when the province announced it was backing Mkhize for president.

Correct: the Zweli Mkhize who had to step down as health minister after the exposure of the Digital Vibes scandal, which saw tens of millions of rands in government funds allocated to the health department in the middle of a public health crisis allegedly channelled to Mkhize’s friends and family.