The South African government has not earned our respect

The ANC has expressed a basic worry that Parliament is losing integrity in the eyes of South Africans.

Parliament, of course, lost all integrity when the majority of the house decided that its purpose was to serve the president and the ruling party.

The government does not serve the people, and hasn’t done so for years.

Government exists to serve government.

When the Public Protector concluded her investigation into Nkandla, Parliament immediately decided to lambast her for daring to say there was something untoward about the president’s house receiving  over R200 million “security” upgrade  at the taxpayer’s expense.

The Seriti commission is another example. It is seen as having absolutely zero integrity, mainly because of all the people who were involved in it kept resigning and saying so.

When people do get punished for corruption in our government, the truth is that they aren’t so much disciplined as shuffled around.

Bheki Cele is currently under investigation for corruption related to a R1.7 billion building lease. Sure people are all for Cele now, but that is just because they like the idea of a “tough” police force tackling crime, right up until they’re the ones getting tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets.

But he got sacked for a very good reason, the system worked!

Only now he is the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pietersson, was the subject of a public protector’s report advising that she be disciplined for her role in a fishy R800 million tender for fisheries patrol services to the Sekunjalo Marine Service Consortium.

Now she is Minister of Energy. Do I need to talk about the issues our country currently faces with Eskom?

Dirty departments are getting dirty brooms to try and sweep them clean – and we’re supposed to see our government as having integrity?

And none of this is going to be discussed in Parliament, because discussing Zuma’s cabinet is embarrassing to the president.

Even aside from that though, even aside from issues with Zuma, there is a basic issue with Parliament itself.

When the Sisonke Sex Workers movement went to parliament to argue for the legalisation of prostitution, here is what they said:

“It’s unfortunate that we are good enough for the ANC politicians to use our services, but they are afraid to come out in support of decriminalisation of sex work and the protection of our human rights.”

Whether your dog in that race is for legalisation or against it, this does not paint a picture of a government with integrity.

Integrity says that if you make a rule, you have to be the first to obey it.

If our parliament uses prostitutes, it should legalise prostitution because how can we have a government that makes one law for the rest of us, while breaking it in private?

This issue may seem small, but it is an illustration of a rot that goes deeper than the protestations of the opposition. The EFF can hoot, the DA can howl, but in truth it is the ANC that has undermined our respect for our governmental institutions.

Integrity is not something that comes with a good press, it comes from honest behaviour - and we aren't seeing that.