No, President Ramaphosa, you don’t get to blame others for corruption in the ANC

3 May 2021

Mr President, 

We're a hopeful Nation - finding light even in the darkest of nights. That is why many grasped at the hope that your Presidency would put South Africa on the path to prosperity.

I never believed that hope could ever lie in the person who loyally propped and applauded former President Zuma during the conveniently rebranded, "9 lost years."

Your appearance at the State Capture Commission of Enquiry did little to dispel this belief - two of your remarks settled the matter. Firstly, in your testimony, as the head of the ethically bankrupt ANC - masterminds behind the sale of our country to criminals and the politically connected - you claimed that it was the ANC’s concern for declining electoral support that spurred you into action.

I would forgive anyone for not knowing how to tackle this remark. 

In the first instance, it was a cornered former President Zuma who reluctantly initiated the State Capture Commission of Enquiry, and not yourself. Our courts made this feat possible.

You have not shown the courage of conviction needed to rip corruption out of the ANC's ranks. Yes, there is the odd performance of political theatre, usually some statement about your commitment to ending corruption, leaving the corrupt laughing at the absurdity of the idea of you acting decisively.

No one has faced the full consequences of their corrupt actions within the ANC.

The public has not seen justice done. Criminality and corruption have spread like a cancer within your party, metastasising into every nook and cranny of the ANC. You have sorely failed to administer the necessary treatment needed to save the patient.

You cannot imagine the insulting blow your remark landed on ordinary South Africans.

Let me explain. South Africans are suffering! Whether it is from chronic unemployment, crime, Covid-19 mismanagement, lack of service delivery or any combination of these factors, South Africans are suffering.

Perhaps now, more than ever, South Africans draw the link between your party’s criminality and their suffering. Therefore your remark was so insulting.

It was not the fact that our country was sold piece by piece to the corrupt Gupta family - handing them the levers of government so they could illegally obtain South African citizenship and handpick our cabinet members.

It was not the fact that the fat cats you call comrades stole money needed for service delivery.

It was not the fact that the ANC's corruption and mismanagement has cost millions of South Africans, particularly the youth, jobs. You only became concerned because the ANC is losing votes.

Such arrogance is dumbfounding.

The second important remark from your "testimony" was to blame the poor state of our country on individuals who did not know how to govern, as though you were merely a passenger on this bus called South Africa. Yet, you, the President of the ANC preside over the cadre deployment committee which rewards ANC members for putting the party ahead of our country, with positions in government.

The reward structure of cadre deployment enabled the capture of our state – cadres had to repay their handlers for parachuting them into roles that they, otherwise, would never have earned. Had the Commission not treated you with kid gloves during your testimony, you would have been forced to concede to this fact.

In the final analysis the truth is that you are a hypocrite. You became a billionaire by sitting on boards of companies where you appointed the best of the best to protect your business interests.

Why fail to do the same for our country? In your heart of hearts, you know that a policy that appoints people to critical government roles only because of their allegiance to a corrupt organisation like the ANC, instead of their ability to do the job, does not auger well for good governance. 

Mr President, both you and your ANC have abused the goodwill and optimism of the South African people. I'm also going to tell you another thing you won’t like to hear Mr President; the corruption and mismanagement suffocating our country can only be fixed when you and the ANC are firmly in South Africa's rear-view mirror.

South Africa and the ANC cannot co-exist in peace and prosperity. One must die for the other to live. It is that simple. You have demonstrated that you will choose the ANC ahead of our nation.

Consequently, all that remains is for the people of South Africa to Act As One to remove the ANC in the 2024 national elections and replace it with a government that puts the people of our country first.

Our people must have the rights protected, their dignity restored and must see justice done.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 3 May 2021