Sad day when MPs shirk responsibility and protect No1

30 April 2014 - 08:49

By The Times Editorial

THE decision taken by the ANC majority in the parliamentary ad hoc committee to shelve the Nkandla inquiry raises worrying signs about our democracy.

Why did the ruling party waste our time by selecting members to the committee if it knew all along that it was not going to investigate until after the elections? But we welcome ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa's statement that the matter will be revisited after the election. We hope so.

The action of the ANC MPs tells us they are not concerned about holding the executive - President Jacob Zuma - accountable to parliament. What assurances do we have that the next batch of MPs will entertain the Nkandla inquiry?

Zuma has been protected from a number of scandals, and this shows that he is either naive or people deliberately take advantage of his name.

We cannot have a president who is continuously embroiled in alleged scams, and then claims he is a victim.

Though the ANC might have won this round, it does not remove the fact that we have a head of state at the centre of a scandal.

It is about time ANC members began to ask difficult questions about the quality of leadership within the party. Every year, Zuma has to marshal loyal members to protect his integrity. Every year, we must ask him to explain himself. But what do we get in return? A president who either does not know or uses technicalities to avoid examination.

We know the poor will continue to vote for the ANC, and place their hopes in individuals who provide them with menial jobs. The time will come when they, too, will have nothing to show for their loyalty other than membership cards. The problem is that individuals have become bigger than the party.

The Nkandla probeshould never be dismissed as a minor offence. The MPs might have done the job for Zuma, but their actions betray everything the ANC has stood for.