EDITORIAL | Mbete must tell Zondo how parliament dealt with state capture

Several former and current MPs this week led evidence before the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture. They detailed what the national legislature did, or did not do, to probe blatant looting of public funds and the deliberate collapse of key state institutions during the chaotic Zuma years.

First up on Monday was former MP Themba Godi, who served a fairly respectable 14-year tenure as chairperson of parliament’s finance watchdog body, the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa).

Godi told how, at the height of state capture between 2014 and 2019, factional battles within the governing ANC influenced how parliamentary committees conducted oversight on the executive, or former president Jacob Zuma and his then cabinet ministers.

And he painted a grim picture, including how oversight portfolio committees, most of which were chaired by Zuma cheerleaders, turned a blind eye to the mismanagement and corruption that unfolded in departments and other state entities they were tasked with holding accountable.

“And I can tell you that I have seen members of various political parties who would come to parliament with a political mandate on which stance to take — and reason and facts would not sway them otherwise.

“Many of our comrades in the house were very pliable and acted like useful idiots of the executive,” he told the inquiry.

Under Baleka Mbete's watch, parliamentary committees dropped the ball, while the institutions became highly securitised as rogue spooks ran amok.

If Godi was to be doubted, he was backed on Tuesday by former ANC MP Zukiswa Rantho, who chaired the public enterprises committee that conducted the much-lauded parliamentary inquiry into the Gupta-inspired capture of Eskom.

Rantho testified how daggers were drawn at meetings of the ANC parliamentary caucus as warring factions attempted to block the inquiry into the power utility from proceeding in 2017.

“There were members who felt it was not necessary to have the inquiry. They felt members of the ANC would be implicated and that would mean the ANC is divided,” she said.

But thankfully, Rantho said, then chief whip Jackson Mthembu put his foot down and the investigation proceeded. By now we are all familiar with the rot that was uncovered.

Unfortunately, Mthembu (may his soul rest in peace), who was lined up to give evidence before deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, is no longer around to shed light on these issues.

Which raises the key question: where was speaker Baleka Mbete during all of this? What did she do to ensure parliamentary committees dealt with state capture before changes in the balance of forces within the ANC in 2017?

Under her watch parliamentary committees dropped the ball, while the institutions became highly securitised as rogue spooks ran amok, brazenly jamming cellphone and internet transmissions during the 2015 state of the nation address (Sona).

At some point, even unidentified army generals manned the main entrance to the national assembly chamber during a Sona.

During all this, MPs such as Rantho, Eskom inquiry evidence leader Ntutuzelo Vanara and their families “lived in fear, as they were followed by unknown people”.

Until Mbete, who was the national assembly’s highest authority until 2019, is called to account before the commission, the story of how parliament dealt with state capture will remain incomplete.

Mbete aside, the revelations of Rantho and Godi also serve as another reminder of the many weaknesses of our parliamentary system, wherein powerful party bosses dictate the rules of engagement, with those refusing to toe the line snubbed of worthy appointments.

Small wonder there’s such a dearth of talent among the current crop of MPs.