Yes, I know we go on about Ace Magashule a little, but our country is currently witnessing a power struggle that could define it for generations to come.

Make no bones about it – if Ace can oust President Cyril Ramaphosa, and he starts calling the shots, Zuma’s State Capture shenanigans will be dwarfed by what lies ahead.

Earlier this week, we wrote about how Ramaphosa had narrowly avoided a parliamentary coup. Magashule had been keen to pull a quick one, attempting to name his lackeys, and those loyal to former president Jacob Zuma, to key positions on the ANC parliamentary committee.

Well, he needn’t have bothered sneaking off, because he announced the committee yesterday, after a series of delays (i.e. power struggles behind the scenes), and he largely got his own way.

The Daily Maverick below with more:

A mix of those fingered in State Capture, alongside former MECs, ex-mayors and one-time members of the Jacob Zuma executive, are now in charge of Parliament’s committees…

Daily Maverick understands there were significant changes made from the committee chairpersons’ list of last week, particularly after the alliance consultations, and Wednesday’s announced incumbents are largely representative or at least supportive of the radical economic transformation (RET) grouping associated with Zuma and Magashule.

“It could have been worse,” was the comment of an insider privy to the behind-the-scenes trade-offs. In some circles on the parliamentary grapevine those trade-offs are said to be part of a compromise agreed to by President Cyril Ramaphosa to fend off a new generation of walking wounded…

Sure, it could have been worse, but some of the key appointments belong in jail, especially in light of what we have heard from the Zondo Commission and their links to State Capture and other corruption, rather than in key ANC positions.

Let’s take a run through some of the worst appointments:

Faith Muthambi, co-operative governance committee chairperson. Her stint as communications minister was sharply criticised by the 2016 parliamentary SABC inquiry that recommended Zuma should consider sacking her, while #GuptaLeaks showed she had leaked Cabinet information to the Guptas.

Mosebenzi Zwane [below], transport committee chairperson. He’s been linked to the dodgy dealings around the Gupta-linked Tegeta acquisition of the Optimum coal mine on the back of Eskom pre-paying almost R700-million for yet to be delivered coal.

During his time as Free State agriculture MEC, it was his official invitation that facilitated the landing of the 2013 Gupta wedding guests at the Waterkloof Air Force base, and the establishment of the Vrede dairy farm.

Bongani Bongo, now home affairs committee chairperson, was a firm defender of controversial Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, leading the faction on the justice committee to stave off a parliamentary inquiry into her fitness for office. Appointed from the back benches as state security minister by Zuma, the Sunday Times reported Bongo had tried to bribe the evidence leader of the parliamentary Eskom State Capture inquiry.

These are the people that the ANC supposedly agreed on, as a collective, to be the party’s best and brightest.

Let’s throw a few more familiar names into the hat:

Sifiso Buthelezi, appropriations committee chairperson. The former finance deputy minister and firm Zuma supporter now oversees the appropriations for South Africa’s R1.83-trillion Budget, and public spending at a time when the public purse is strained. Buthelezi did not cover himself in glory while at the finance portfolio, but loyally defended those linked to Zuma, like former SAA board chairperson Dudu Myeni…

Supra Mahumapelo [above, with Magashule], the tourism committee chairperson, is a firm supporter of Zuma…[who] has cruised above State Capture such as the Gupta-linked Mediosa Health Service that ultimately went bust, or other dodgy dealings like the 2015 game deal involving the transfer of prize animals from North West government-owned reserves to Southern Africa Rare Game Breeders Holdings without a tender…

Cedric Frolick returns as House Chairpersons for Committee Chairpersons despite being named as a Bosasa middleman by Angelo Agrizzi before the Zondo State Capture commission…

Here’s a question – what is the Zondo Commission actually for? Are we just airing our dirty laundry, before we carry on with how things were before?

Never shy of a word, here’s  DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen with his take on the ANC parliamentary committee:

“The ANC’s candidates for some of the committees are frankly shocking and shows a complete disregard for the people of South Africa…It is clear that Ramaphosa’s attempts at forging a new dawn are being hampered by the ANC’s factional fault lines – with Ramaphosa on one side and Ace Magashule on the other. The Magashule faction won this fight, and will do all it can to undermine all attempts at building a better South Africa for all.”

Sadly, when you look at some of those appointments, Steenhuisen is on the money, and it’s yet another example of the New Dawn deferred.

Naturally, the ANC secretary-general was in fine spirits following the announcement:

“The law allows them to be MPs because they have not been found guilty by a court of law,” said Magashule, adding with specific reference to Muthambi, Zwane and Bongo: “They appeared before the [ANC] integrity commission and the integrity commission did not find them guilty of anything.”

Well, if the ANC integrity commission cleared them, right?

I know we’re all still feeling the after-effects of watching the Proteas get booted from the World Cup, so sorry for the doom and gloom so early in the morning, but it’s another round scored for Ace in the battle for the future of the country.

[source:dailymav]