Setumo Stone has written an article (see here) which achieves two things: first, it demonstrates quite nicely his ignorance; secondly, and in much the same fashion, the deep animosity he seems to harbour toward the Democratic Alliance. The combination of the two makes for dreary reading and the kind of argument one usually encounters in a bar, in the early hours of the morning. Nevertheless, let me indulge it, if only for the record.
In 1997 the ANC adopted at its National Conference a resolution on cadre deployment. It can be read here. Among other things, the resolution recommended that the ruling party "Put in place a deployment strategy which focuses on the short, medium and long term challenges, identifying the key centres of power, our strategy to transform these centres and the attributes and skills we require from our cadres to do so effectively."
This resolution should be standard reading for anyone interested in South African politics. I recommend it to Mr Stone.
Over the next ten years, President Mbeki oversaw the systematic deployment of cadres, loyal first and foremost to the ANC, to key centres of power, positions in the public service and even those constitutional institutions designed to be independent of the government. In doing so, the ANC blurred the separation of power that should define the relationship between the different branches of the state.
The consequences of this for many of those institutions were dire. Because people were not chosen on merit (a word Mr Stone seems to have an allergic reaction to), they fell into disrepair. And because they were effectively answerable to the ANC executive, corruption and maladministration was tolerated and allowed to flourish.
The long and the short of it all is that a significant part of President Mbeki's legacy is a culture in which race and political loyalty have replaced merit and expertise as the defining criteria for selection to public office. And South Africa's democracy and those institutions designed to uphold it are poorer for it.
President Zuma shows no sign of ending the policy, only an inclination to replace those people who might have been loyal to President Mbeki, with cadres loyal to himself and his particular faction in the ruling party.
Now, Setumo Stone can whinge and whine about the DA and the fact that our party places a premium on expertise as opposed to blind political servitude, and that we act to ensure a separation of powers, a neutral public service and clean and efficient government but, quite frankly, its not going to make an ounce of difference to the cold hard reality that exists outside his rather limited frame of reference.
If he honestly believes everything is fine and the ANC's factional infighting hasn't split almost every institution in this country down the middle, well, he is welcome to his own delusional opinion. But I would suggest his time would be better spent reading the newspapers and getting to grips with some basic facts, before he next puts pen to paper.
On the other hand, if his purpose was to ingratiate himself to the ANC, what can I say? Job well done. The ANCYL seems attracted to this kind of reasoning, why doesn't Mr Stone put his name forward as a potential media officer for its President, I am sure the two of them will get on famously.
Gareth van Onselen is executive director of communications in the Democratic Alliance
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