RAZINA MUNSHI: Will rogue ANC members be sent to the naughty corner?
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Many critics have dismissed Cyril Ramaphosa’s seven page letter to ANC ( members, calling out the corrupt among them, as simple lip service. South Africans seems to have shrugged it off as a cosmetic move that does nothing to mask the role the ruling party played in entrenching corruption and patronage.
And, let’s face it, it does little to aid efforts to hold rogue public servants and party officials to account.
In his letter, the president directed his ire at all officials accused of corruption, but he is particularly harsh on those who used Covid-19 for personal enrichment. He refers to the exploitation of this grave medical, social economic crisis as an “unforgiveable betrayal”.
“The progress that our nation has made in improving the lives of our people in the last quarter century is being eroded by corruption and patronage,” he says. The ANC NEC, he added, believes revelations of corruption should “cause us to dip our heads in shame”.
The problem is, the timing of Ramaphosa’s letter couldn’t be worse. It comes three days after the ANC opted to reward corruption-accused former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede with a position in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
The letter dances neatly around Gumede’s appointment, just as it skirts around the complicity of Ramaphosa’s own spokesperson in tender irregularities of Covid-19 PPE.
The real question is, what now? What does Ramaphosa’s letter really leave South Africans with that we didn’t have on Sunday morning?
Well, what it does give us is insight into his presidency. For one, it’s a sign of how removed he is from average ANC members; from internal mechanisms to hold party members to account; and from the reality of the rot that has infected the party.
He is a man who has failed to demonstrate that he is in charge of the party he leads.
Second, the letter reveals that the ANC is as polarised as ever. Battle lines are drawn. Different factions are stepping up to defend their turf, and Ramaphosa’s corner seems to be shrinking.
Third, the way that South Africans reacted to Ramaphosa’s statement tells its own story. The current scepticism of Ramaphosa’s ability to do anything, and disbelief that ANC members will have any regard for the seriousness of the message contrasts sharply with the embrace the president’s new dawn received when he first assumed office.
The wheels of justice
But does this mean that nothing ...
And, let’s face it, it does little to aid efforts to hold rogue public servants and party officials to account.
In his letter, the president directed his ire at all officials accused of corruption, but he is particularly harsh on those who used Covid-19 for personal enrichment. He refers to the exploitation of this grave medical, social economic crisis as an “unforgiveable betrayal”.
“The progress that our nation has made in improving the lives of our people in the last quarter century is being eroded by corruption and patronage,” he says. The ANC NEC, he added, believes revelations of corruption should “cause us to dip our heads in shame”.
The problem is, the timing of Ramaphosa’s letter couldn’t be worse. It comes three days after the ANC opted to reward corruption-accused former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede with a position in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
The letter dances neatly around Gumede’s appointment, just as it skirts around the complicity of Ramaphosa’s own spokesperson in tender irregularities of Covid-19 PPE.
The real question is, what now? What does Ramaphosa’s letter really leave South Africans with that we didn’t have on Sunday morning?
Well, what it does give us is insight into his presidency. For one, it’s a sign of how removed he is from average ANC members; from internal mechanisms to hold party members to account; and from the reality of the rot that has infected the party.
He is a man who has failed to demonstrate that he is in charge of the party he leads.
Second, the letter reveals that the ANC is as polarised as ever. Battle lines are drawn. Different factions are stepping up to defend their turf, and Ramaphosa’s corner seems to be shrinking.
Third, the way that South Africans reacted to Ramaphosa’s statement tells its own story. The current scepticism of Ramaphosa’s ability to do anything, and disbelief that ANC members will have any regard for the seriousness of the message contrasts sharply with the embrace the president’s new dawn received when he first assumed office.
The wheels of justice
But does this mean that nothing ...
