BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI | Zuma may be our corruption poster child, but are Mbeki and Ramaphosa any better?

It’s something that’s almost baked into the public mind that the corruption that’s now spiralled out of control — crooked officials helping themselves to public funds, looting of parastatals, including hospitals and cops on the take and even running errands for criminals — could be laid at Jacob Zuma’s door. He’s the don or embodiment of all the dishonesty and criminality, we’re made to believe. He made us eat the forbidden fruit, as it were.

Zuma has a lot to answer for. But he was never alone in looting, nor did it cease with his going. The ANC has seized on his departure from its ranks to declare themselves innocent of any culpability. But they stood by him throughout the plundering, and are therefore equally complicit. They now want us to believe the boil has been lanced now that he’s gone. That was President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ticket to power: that he’d step in and clean up all the mess — despite the fact that he was Zuma’s bridesman throughout his rampage.

We look in horror at what’s unfolding before the Madlanga commission and wonder: how did we get here? But it’s not a bolt out of the blue. It’s been a slow, inexorable process, unravelling in front of our own eyes, even with our complicity. The ANC didn’t impose themselves on us. We elected them, again and again and again. What’s interesting about the history of ANC corruption is that each of its presidents has had a hand in its expansion; they’ve made their own distinct contribution to the corruption endeavour.

It’s been like a relay race, one passing the baton to the next, whose scandal had turned out to be worse than the predecessor’s. Apart from HIV/Aids denialism, open borders and Zimbabwe, Thabo Mbeki’s signature contribution is the multibillion-rand arms deal, which benefited nobody except the suppliers and corrupt comrades.

Mbeki also bequeathed us the unmitigated disaster that was Jacob Zuma, who masterminded the state capture debacle, putting the arms deal in the shade. Ramaphosa, our messiah, arrived promising to slay the dragon reared and nurtured by his unscrupulous predecessor.

Never in a million years did we imagine that three decades later we’d be scratching our heads, wondering what has hit us

Instead, he’s presiding over something far worse. Criminality at the highest echelon of the criminal justice system — senior cops taking money and orders from hoodlums and so on — will be his abiding legacy. How can the justice system or democracy itself survive without an honest cop, prosecutor, or judge? Who will guard the guardians?

The future doesn’t look promising. Paul Mashatile is fancying his chances. He comes with great credentials. If he succeeds Ramaphosa, he will enter the high office with perhaps the best (looting) experience of all his predecessors.

Yet it started so promisingly well in 1994. Never in a million years did we ever imagine that we’d be scratching our heads wondering what’s hit us three decades later. It may have had a lot to do with the giddy atmosphere at the time and the type of leader Nelson Mandela was: an honest straight shooter. The tone is always set at the top. But it was also still too early in the day. The comrades were still learning the ropes; still trying to figure out the lie of the land. The power and the wealth benefits at their disposal must have been bewildering, breath-taking, even intoxicating. Wow. Which wasn’t a surprise.

In exile most of them survived on hand-outs and hand-me-downs from well-wishers, and suddenly they had access to untrammelled power and unlimited resources. It was a pot of gold not to be spurned. At first, they must have nibbled at it, but with time, they got bolder and realised they could help themselves to all the contents — and get away with it.

Sarafina 2, the first scandal of the ANC government and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s little baby, was the first inkling of things to come. But of course, compared to the gazillions that are now being looted, Sarafina 2 was small beer. What sticks to mind to this day about that period is the arrogance, contempt and absolute disdain of those responsible, especially Dlamini-Zuma herself. It was as though the public shouldn’t have the temerity to question or challenge their authority. That attitude set the scene for what was to follow.

It’s the ANC, its honchos and functionaries who are on trial before these commissions

The ANC had hardly had the time to settle in government when it decided to spend billions to buy armaments. It was quite a political statement. Given the country’s perennial needs — poverty, high unemployment, crime etc — the first thing our beloved liberators decide to do is spend scarce resources on guns and tanks. Was the mighty Royal Swazi Defence Force, for instance, about to attack us? It was all so confusing.

It only dawned later the whole thing was meant to feed and enrich the comrades. When the scandal broke, the ANC closed ranks, as it often does, and summoned all state resources, parliament too, to cover up the scandal. Mbeki told the comical Seriti commission, which sat from 2011 to 2016, that there’s no there there. Seriti promptly saw no evil. Thankfully his findings were set aside by the high court for failing to conduct a proper inquiry.

Ramaphosa’s failure or unwillingness to act on the findings of the Zondo state capture commission is equally baffling. After all, his campaign pledge was to deal decisively with state capture and its perpetrators. But then his backbone has a tendency to go walkabout.

It’d be a pity if a similar fate befell the Madlanga police criminal commission — one has an uncomfortable feeling what’s being revealed is but the tip of the iceberg, a snapshot of what could be happening across the country. We may need a permanent inquiry to expose all the rot.

It’s the ANC, its honchos and functionaries who are on trial before these commissions. And here we are, naively expecting the looters to tie a noose around their necks and hang themselves. It ain’t gonna happen.

Unless the voters intervene.