Zuma's fear is Shiceka's lifeline

When a popular MEC fell ill some years ago and it became clear that he would not be returning to work any time soon, his premier did what he thought was in the interest of the provincial government and its citizens.

The premier asked the MEC to step down on health grounds.

But the MEC didn't take kindly to the request and, even though his negative reaction as well as pressure from other members of the provincial government eventually forced the premier to withdraw the request, he never really warmed up to his boss again.

As the MEC's health deteriorated in the months that followed, accusatory fingers were pointed at the premier. His "treachery", charged some of the comrades, had so shattered the MEC's spirit that his condition had worsened.

Perhaps it is experiences such as this one that are making President Jacob Zuma extremely hesitant to take what, under normal circumstances, should be the most obvious step against disgraced Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka.

With the ANC's national conference - at which Zuma is expected to stand for a second term as party leader - just over a year away, the president seems overly cautious about upsetting any of the constituencies still on his side.

Shiceka does not represent any discernible constituency that would be lost to Zuma should he fire the minister. And yet Zuma apparently fears that such a move could be used by his opponents in their campaign for his removal as ANC president in December next year.

A few months ago, Zuma's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, suggested that the president's reluctance to fire Shiceka should be understood in the context of "ANC tradition".

"I don't know the Sicelo case," Maharaj said, "but I know one thing: the deep reluctance of the president to kick a person who is ill. It comes from where we come from".

What seems to have escaped the president, though, is that his delay in acting against Shiceka following a damning Public Protector's report on the minister's abuse of public funds, is further eroding confidence in his leadership.

But hey, as one government official quipped, the general public doesn't get to vote at party-members-only ANC conferences.

And what is valued by Joe Public may not be accorded a similar value by a branch delegate to the party conference in Mangaung next year.

But what of Shiceka himself? Has he no shame?

Surely Zuma should not have to fire him - Shiceka should have fallen on his sword a long time ago.

In any other democratic country that values accountability and good governance, a minister who has been found by a constitutional body to have not only defrauded the government but also to have lied to the head of state and citizens, would have resigned.

"Shiceka deliberately . misled the president when he presented the purpose of his visit to Switzerland. In doing so, Mr Shiceka acted in violation of paragraph 2.3 of the executive Ethics Code.

"His actions were accordingly unlawful and constituted maladministration," Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found.

But, instead of doing the right thing, Shiceka vowed at the weekend to challenge the findings in court.

He is within his constitutional right to do so, but why hold the entire country to ransom?

His ministry, which is responsible for the ailing but important sphere of local government, has been without a permanent political head for the past eight months.

If Shiceka really cared he would step down and allow a new minister to take over while he focuses his energies on clearing his name.

Or is his refusal to resign a calculated move to ensure that, should the case go to court, he would have access to government resources such as ministerial staff and legal representation funded by the state?

As for the ruling party, it is high time that it reviewed some of the "traditions" that may have been appropriate to the bad old days of the struggle.

At the special ANC national executive committee meeting in August, party leaders complained that the party is "perceived to be soft and flat-footed in dealing with corruption".

"In part, comrades who commit errors expect the ANC to protect them even when and where they are wrong," the special meeting noted according to a bulletin sent to party structures last month.

"All ANC structures should identify and root out corruption and encourage our communities to work with our law enforcement structures in rooting out corruption," the bulletin reads.

But can party branches, let alone the public at large, take the ANC leadership's anti-corruption message seriously while Shiceka continues to enjoy the status - and salary - of being a minister?