The Daily Maverick recently quoted former US president, General Dwight D Eisenhower, as follows: “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.”
How many people in government in South Africa actually think integrity is either important or necessary? Many citizens have concluded that in the ANC, a lack of integrity, and downright rapaciousness and greed are almost indispensable qualities for promotion – and retention – of office.
What seems to count far more than competence is the ability to create opportunities for oneself and supporters and friends to eat at the trough, while pretending to care about the poor, the hungry and the oppressed.
The sensational interview conducted by Annika Larsen with Andre de Ruyter on 22 February and the faux-horrified reaction of ministers and the Secretary-General of the ANC, shows in stark terms the difference between someone of integrity and some whose knowledge of and possession of that quality appear to be slight.
De Ruyter was thought by many citizens to be enormously brave or a bit touched when he accepted the ESKOM job in the first place. The prospect of a messy ending to the appointment was there from the first day. And so, it turned out. The moment he revealed his hand in the fight against corruption at ESKOM and came across as being determined to restore good governance, he was a marked man, no longer regarded as a reliable team player.
Now he has lifted the lid on a fraction of the looting, the remarkable tolerance of some of the most senior people in government for criminal activity, the inaction and corruption in the supply chain with no consequences for criminals, the stealing of a billion Rand a month and the gross and vulgar display of swindled wealth by some suppliers, he has been vilified by ANC people. Suddenly he is described as an incompetent failure.