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For years, the ruling party has looted and robbed South Africa with great vigour, so why stop now?

Each day of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, also known as the Zondo Commission of Inquiry, sees stories of corruption and greed on the grandest of scales, and yet nobody is held accountable, and the cycle continues.

It’s not often you see a politician publicly say that corruption should be ignored, but we are living in ‘unprecedented times’, so perhaps usual decorum doesn’t apply.

During a speech at the memorial service of the late Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Council Speaker Alfred Mtsi, Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Xolile Nqatha stated that the ANC should suspend all disciplinary hearings into those involved in corruption, because their immune system is weak and they may die if the hearings continue.

Here’s footage of that speech:

Eastern Cape MEC Xolile Nqatha on disciplinary hearings:

“This virus does not require a stressed cadreship. Suspend all disciplinary hearings …their immune system is weak”

“It is un- ANC to discipline people while they are in quarantine” pic.twitter.com/TIVQrMDcnF

— King of Leon. (@MightiJamie) July 15, 2020

Via IOL, here’s part of the transcript of what he said:

“Challenges of this coronavirus does not require a stressed cadreship for that weakens the immune system, that is why if you are contemplating to discipline anyone who must be held accountable for wrongdoing, if that person is in quarantine because he is ill, don’t act against that  person… It’s un-ANC… It’s not comradely, let’s not treat each other that way, it’s against the spirit of comrade Mtsi.”

He’s right in that it is un-ANC to hold fellow comrades accountable, and his words are pretty cut and dry, right?

Apparently not, because Nqatha is now saying his words, which were recorded on video for all to see, were taken out of context.

Here’s part of the official statement, released on the Cogta Eastern Cape Facebook page:

Eastern Cape COGTA MEC Hon. Xolile Nqatha has learnt with great shock the circulation of distorted social media posts suggesting that he said the ANC should suspend all disciplinary hearings of those involved in corruption because their immune system is weak and will die of COVID-19 if hearings continue.

The Hon. MEC is deliberately quoted out of context to drive a certain narrative and tarnish his image.

South African news anchor and broadcaster Redi Tlhabi gets it:

How is it distorted? People are not reacting to what was reported but what he said, in his own words. The video of him speaking and saying what he said, is not reportage. It is him, in real time, in his words. So where’s the distortion? https://t.co/C0udmiCiG0

— Redi Tlhabi (@RediTlhabi) July 15, 2020

Don’t believe what you’re seeing with your own eyes, believe what I tell you is true.

It’s all a little George Orwell, 1984-style.

Meanwhile, the corruption continues unabated, and those responsible are readily welcomed back into ANC party structures.

[sources:iol&cogtaec]