With former opposition voices silenced by inclusion in the GNU and dominant opposition parties awash with those involved in corruption, who will provide the political will to bring the many corruption cases to their appropriate conclusion?
Those South Africans who were anticipating that the May 2024 elections would define a clearer vision of the country’s political future and bring an end to the pre-election divisive, cynical inter-party backstabbing, bickering and bad mouthing, will be bemused by the tsunami of political shenanigans and chicanery playing out in our political space and in a show that seems to have no end.
The current ongoing political comedy is the result of an election outcome that “shocked” most of its participants and has stimulated a hive of self-serving personal and party activity designed to maintain or create some sort of relevance and continued existence in the electoral aftermath.
With the exception of the MK party, all parties fell well short of their own predictions, some completely disappeared into the political wilderness and despite their prominent and publicly well-exposed leaders, some are on the cusp of fading into insignificance.
The May 2024 election has dramatically rearranged South Africa’s party political architecture.
Perhaps most significantly, the decades-long traditional leading independent and upright official opposition establishment, the DA, the party of Helen Suzman, Van Zyl Slabbert, Colin Eglin, Zach de Beer, Denis Worrall, Tony Leon, Helen Zille, Mmusi Maimane and John Steenhuisen, has been craftily and effectively deconstructed by President Cyril Ramaphosa – partly by filtering its leader, its chief whip and a few senior individuals into his Government of National Unity (GNU) Cabinet, creating conflicts of loyalty and interest for them, leaving the former official opposition with a diminished leadership presence and voice in Parliament.
Former political home
The former chief whip of the DA, for example, declines to describe herself as a “DA Cabinet minister”, preferring to be known as a GNU minister and thus distancing herself from the DA in favour of being more closely associated with and loyal to the ANC-dominated, Ramaphosa-led Cabinet than with her former political home.
The Multi-Party Charter, proudly announced in June last year as the vehicle to “rescue” South Africa, has fallen apart and the former leader of the opposition, the chief parliamentary protagonist for integrity, the rule of law, accountability and competent governance, now busies himself with matters agricultural, concerns about outbreaks of animal foot-and-mouth disease and locating the missing R500-million that has somehow disappeared from the department apparently unnoticed by former Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza, who is now the Speaker of Parliament with even greater oversight responsibilities.
As a consequence of its dismal electoral performance and as if opening a brand new brothel on the high street, the president invited all comers to share a political bed with the ANC and indulged in weeks of tempting and enticing all forms of former political friends and enemies to join a Government of National Unity that, had they all accepted, would have resembled an overloaded packet of political Liquorice Allsorts.
Distasteful
Some of the invitees found it distasteful to be sharing a bed with certain others and proudly and noisily returned to their own independent status, and heavily criticised those guests who finally accepted the president’s invitation to join the GNU, and took the goodies on offer.
Consequently, South Africa’s parliamentary opposition is now comprised of Julius Malema’s shrinking one-man band and Jacob Zuma’s cohort of dubious sycophantic political has-beens, suspected looters and bribe takers, headed up by an impeached judge and former Cabinet minister Nathi Nhleko, who defined a swimming pool at Nkandla as an essential security measure for his friend Jacob Zuma.
Malema’s personal “revolutionary” sparkling charisma is falling flat as his close friend and deputy deserts the EFF in favour of the MK party and unites at a leadership level with the man he once rudely, vociferously and antagonistically heckled at an ANC Youth League conference.
The official opposition MK party has declined to have a leadership election in order to avoid exposing the “divisions” in the party, and changes its leadership and parliamentary representatives faster than taxis change lanes. The word democracy has no meaning for them and our Roman-Dutch-based legal system is to be replaced by a hitherto unknown and non-existent “African” law.
Tide of impunity
Meanwhile, the tide of impunity and lack of consequences for those accused of or implicated in corruption, fraud and other misdemeanours by the Zondo commission and other investigations rises, and the independence of the National Prosecuting Authority has been called into question as it continues to dismally fail to prosecute and bring to book even the most patent and obvious offenders.
Mysteriously, and no doubt conveniently for some, much of the evidence relating to those accused in the Zondo Commission appears to have disappeared.
Perhaps this is not all that surprising, given that we have a president who hoards loads of foreign currency in his couches, and still no one knows why he chose such a form of cash storage or whether those were ill-gotten funds or not. The fact that his own public protector appointee and his then parliamentary majority absolved him of any wrongdoing does nothing to remove the lingering doubt about his own integrity and commitment to his much vaunted “zero tolerance” of corruption.
In the same vein and as part of the shambolic ongoing show, it is inconceivable that a former public protector, appointed by then ANC and current MK leader Jacob Zuma, is now an MP for the EFF, has spent multimillions of taxpayers’ money to defend her impeachment, and when fired still demands R10-million from those taxpayers as severance pay.
Prior to and post the election, the public’s attention was drawn in many diverse ways to the VBS scandal and the financial benefits accruing to Malema, Shivambu and other politicians; the lavish lifestyle of Deputy President Paul Mashatile and his family links to fraudulent activity within Digital Vibes; and multiple other cases of politicians involved in bribery, fraud and suspicious negotiations; along with ongoing investigations into fraud and corruption at Eskom, Denel, Transnet, Prasa and other SOEs.
Bribery accusations
Included in scenes yet to play out in this show are court cases relating to the bribery accusations against the former Speaker of Parliament and the former Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Zizi Kodwa; the final outcome of charges against Fikile Mbalula in respect of non-disclosure of cadre deployment minutes to the DA as ordered by the High Court; the preposterous obstacles in the way of prosecuting Jacob Zuma in the arms deal case; the reinstating of the Gupta-related Estina dairy case; former ANC Secretary-General Ace Magashule’s related asbestos case; and a multitude of other examples of fraud, corruption and mismanagement instances that are in the public domain.
With former opposition voices silenced by their inclusion in the GNU and dominant opposition parties awash with many of those involved, who will provide the political will and prosecutorial impetus to bring these and many other cases of fraud, corruption and other civil and criminal offences to the appropriate conclusion?
And so, while this chaotic, confused, corruption riddled political drama drags on, the question arises – what can South Africans do to bring this horror show to an end and restore and reconstruct our political architecture to one that is built on real democratic values, principles and practices, constitutionality, integrity, selflessness and a commitment to public service?
Two potential solutions come to mind.
Firstly, all non-ANC ministers resign from the GNU, including a rehabilitated Gayton McKenzie and the South African party political party hop, skip and jump champion, the former PAC, IP, DA and Good Party robust anti-ANC activist, but now ANC minister, Patricia de Lille.
The Multi-Party Charter is reincarnated, broadened and unified into one new political party, led by a team elected by a congress and guided by a realistic credible manifesto that appeals to a majority of the South African electorate, including those that were eligible, but declined to vote in the last election.
No-confidence motions
The ANC continues as a minority government, fielding a multitude of legislative rejections and no-confidence motions until it is forced to resign and a new general election takes place in May next year where the MPC combination prevails and takes over the government of our country.
In the very unlikely event that President Ramaphosa decides to form a new GNU with the EFF and MK (the so called Doomsday pact), it would simply expose the kind of political prostitution he and his colleagues are capable of in the quest to remain in power and destroy the once honourable Struggle credentials of the ANC once and for all. It would spark a financial and economic crisis from which our country would never recover.
Alternatively, as the South African political drama continues and its negative impact on social and economic conditions in our country worsens, civil society and organised business should rise up in a unified, forceful but peaceful revolution, collectively pressuring the GNU and demanding a return to the internationally recognised principles of good governance.
Integrity
Inter alia, these include integrity, accountability, transparency, strict adherence to the rule of law, efficiency and effectiveness, responsible fiscal and monetary policy and diligent use of taxpayers’ funds, putting country above party and self-interest, and projecting governmental stability by applying consensually agreed upon affordable policies and practices endorsed by business and civil society.
There are already signs that organisations such as Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, Business Leadership SA, the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and others are increasingly holding some sway over government decisions, but this growing stream of influence needs to become an irresistible flood of leverage and persuasion that returns those necessary principles of good governance to our country.
A widely inclusive civil society/business Codesa could map out a detailed peoples’ manifesto to which they demand government and parliamentary establishments adhere, one that instils domestic and foreign confidence in the future well-being of South Africa and its citizens.
Characterised by disarray
Should the government not be unconditionally guided by that manifesto and should the parliamentary space continue to be characterised by disarray, divisiveness, disruption and party political gamesmanship, the coalition of civil society and business should literally and figuratively take to the streets, the courts and the corridors of power, and even apply its own sanctions and boycotts against those in the government and political spaces that are creating a state of nothingness but stagnation, deterioration, despair and disappointment among our citizens.
Either way we must get this sad unacceptable and divisive, deceitful political performance behind us.
South Africa has the potential to be one of the world’s most remarkable success stories, but the responsibility to achieve that status lies with a new political structure and dispensation and the robust, determined participation of a civil society/business-led coalition of citizens, all dedicated and committed to creating a progressive, dignified, internationally respected, proud and honourable country with a genuine desire for a better life for all who live in it. DM