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Just how low can South Africa’s ruling party sink?

Well, we’ve had many, many years to get used to the moral depravity that pervades the corridors of Luthuli House, but the ANC still finds new and exciting ways to surprise the people of South Africa.

Millions of our most vulnerable residents are in dire need of assistance, and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, but even in these most unprecedented of times (there’s that word again), comrades continue to loot and plunder.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has come under renewed attack, following his address last Thursday and the usual platitudes about tackling corruption, and Justice Malala ain’t buying it.

Writing for TimesLIVE, the political commentator calls the party a “grotesque failure”, and asks when will South African say enough?

Ramaphosa always caves in to the trade unions. He caves in to the public sector unions on wages, on work conditions and other issues no matter the impact of these decisions on the fiscus and on schoolchildren.

This is something that many South Africans haven’t worked out about Ramaphosa. Put the unions and the SA Communist Party in front of him and he caves in. Every time.

I guess the alcohol industry’s lobbying efforts just weren’t convincing enough?

When Ramaphosa spoke about the fight against corruption depending “on the involvement of all citizens and all parts of society”, you could almost hear the country let out a collective cry of disbelief.

How about this starts from the top?

This is extraordinary. Ramaphosa’s administration has failed to arrest or prosecute anyone involved with a crime as obvious as the Estina dairy farm fraud and yet we are made to believe that there will be action on current crimes.

There is something that this administration knows about South Africans: they are either gullible or just plain dumb. If you believe a word of Ramaphosa’s glib promises on corruption then you are with the fairies. The only crime Ramaphosa and his administration know how to fight is when civilians are enjoying a drink or a fag in their own home.

Even when honouring the best the party has to offer, as was the case with the recently deceased Andrew Mlangeni, the ANC’s embracing of the corrupt was there for all to see.

Mlangeni, imprisoned following the Rivonia trial, recently passed away at the age of 95, having made his feelings about Jacob Zuma rather clear during his final years.

Case in point:

– @KathradaFound one of the last interviews we did with Tata Mlangeni. In this he shares his thoughts on the former president. pic.twitter.com/eluGwUVGGH

— Neeshan Balton (@NeeshanB) July 24, 2020

He had shared these same sentiments regarding Zuma many, many times, but who does the ANC ask to lead the tributes at Mlangeni’s virtual memorial service last week?

Yes, Zuma himself, in what can only be described as a slap in the face to Mlangeni’s memory.

Coming so soon after Ramaphosa’s statements on tackling corruption (again), the Daily Maverick’s Stephen Grootes points out why this is now just par for the course:

The choice of Zuma for the Mlangeni tribute and the new wave of corruption are closely related ­– one is but a symptom of the other. Underpinning it all is the lack of consequences for those implicated in corruption, mismanagement and gigantic incompetence, as well as what now appears to be a near-total failure to act by the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)…

In any political scenario, it would seem dangerous for a political party to arrange for a former leader facing corruption charges in court, against whom so much evidence has been published over the decades, to lead tributes for someone who is so venerated by so much of our society. Particularly when that person has specifically spoken out against Zuma.

And yet, those who did this clearly presume that there will be no electoral cost.

As hospitals and communities struggle to arm themselves to fight the spread of COVID-19, so-called “covidpreneurs” have been milking the system.

In Gauteng alone, as many as 90 firms who won sizeable contracts in Gauteng are under investigation, with many having had absolutely zero to do with the health sector before scoring these tenders.

All this talk of fighting the good fight, but at this stage, whose hands aren’t dirty?

It now appears that any attempt to clean up the ANC may simply result in a circular firing squad: the corruption is so deeply entrenched and appears to involve so many people, no matter which faction they belong to. This, again, shines the spotlight on the NPA’s failure to deliver on its mandate…

The coronavirus is shining a harsh light on many aspects of our society, including our deeply racialised inequality and the lack of delivery in almost every part of our society. It is performing the same function with corruption, and it is a horrible sight. The real tragedy, however, is that it is also hollowing out the state right before our eyes, perhaps never to be trusted again.

Look, sorry to paint such a dire picture on a Monday morning, but these are the cold, hard facts.

Many of us will continue to live a decent lifestyle, but that will happen in a country with a government that doesn’t even pretend to care about the vast majority of its citizens.

Back to Malala, for his final words:

So what will ordinary South Africans do in 2021? After being stolen from, spat upon and denigrated by the ANC for the past 10 years, will they choose the devil they know? Will they stay at home and not come out to vote in numbers? Will they find a new political home?

…The ANC is a tragic disappointment at every level. It is a party of corrupt old men and a few women running their country into the ground.

The people will choose in 2021. I fear that they may choose the ANC again.

Therein lies the problem, really.

No matter how rotten the ANC proves to be, time and time again, they will never be properly held to account by voters, and the criminality will continue unchecked.

Smash a second cup of coffee – it’s going to be a long week.

[sources:timeslive&dailymaverick]