The ANC’s corruption did not start in 1994. More important, the party’s cover-up of its leaders’ corruption and criminality did not start with the advent of democracy.
It has been around for decades. Anyone remember the name “Comrade Tsotsi” from the 1980s? That was the popular name for comrades who stole from communities, abused their fellow activists and generally used the struggle against apartheid as cover for their selfish and criminal activities. There were many such characters and they were shielded by their comrades in community structures.
It was not just the internal ANC that was afflicted. Stories of exiled party leaders who would send cadres into apartheid-era SA for fancy shoes or to run errands, while allegedly running criminal networks, also abound. Enough books have been written about this sort of rot and how it was covered up by the ANC leadership.
With the arrival of democracy and freedom the ANC could have told these shady characters in its ranks that the party was over and the state it was about to run would be beyond reproach. It did not. There was no soul-searching. There was no proper assessment or new declaration about what the ANC in power would be like.
The assumption, among its own leaders and many admirers of the party’s noble freedom mission since its formation in 1912, was that the “good” liberation movement would be a worthy custodian of the state’s resources. It was not to be. The “Com Tsotsi” element was incorporated into state structures and the looting continued.
The “Comrade Thieves” became emboldened. They didn’t just dabble in small municipal tenders. The multi-million-dollar arms deal of the late 1990s showed clearly that the top leaders were at the trough. The ANC defended its members who were involved in arms deal corruption. In fact, in the late 2000s and early 2010s corruption became the central driver of any campaign or action in the ANC. It became part of the key attributes of becoming an ANC leader. From Musina to Cape Town, ambitious thugs knew that to get access to wealth they had to become ANC members.
The ANC’s Comrade Tsotsis were now rigging internal party contests to ensure they were in the queue to loot. Indeed, rigging was not enough. Many were prepared to kill to get ahead. In Kwazulu-Natal, in the run-up to the 2016 local government elections, 20 politically motivated deaths occurred in just the first seven months of the year.
Think back to the 2011 local government elections. Back then, the ANC asked Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who then president Jacob Zuma had sent off to exile to be AU chairperson after she sided with Thabo Mbeki in 2007, to investigate corruption in the party’s selection of its local candidates. She investigated disputes from 419 wards and recommended that in 125 of them ANC processes be retaken.
“It is worth noting that during the election processes, almost every province had experienced violent protests and growing intolerance emanating from, amongst others, dissatisfaction with the nomination and selection of candidates processes,” her team’s report said.
The ANC’s “Comrade Tsotsis” were now rigging internal party contests to ensure they were in the queue to loot. Indeed, rigging was not enough. Many were prepared to kill to get ahead. In KwaZulu-Natal, in the run-up to the 2016 local government elections, 20 politically motivated deaths occurred in just the first seven months of the year. Fourteen of these were people affiliated to the ANC. Their deaths were linked to contestation within the branches over who became an ANC councillor.
Now, because of poor policing, most cases of corruption in SA go unprosecuted, as do most cases of political assassination. The suspected killers therefore rise in the party. The ANC protects them on their way up in the name of “unity of the ANC”.
Everyone with any experience in the party knows this is now the way the ANC operates. The party exists to help one line one’s pockets — and protect those who are on the inside.
When he appeared at the Zondo commission last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he chose not to resign as deputy president of the country in 2014 to 2017 because state capture could not be stopped by those who were opposed to them electing to quit. If anything, TimesLIVE reported him saying such a move (to quit) would have entrenched state capture and corruption in the public service to deeper levels.
In saying this, Ramaphosa acknowledged that he knew what was going on. Like so many other ANC leaders, he chose to let the rot continue until he and his supporters in the party were ready to pounce on Zuma and oust him.
This presents South Africans with a sobering truth: if they vote ANC in the local elections later this year or in 2022, or in the national elections in 2024, they are subjecting themselves to pretty much the practices the ANC has finessed over decades. How long are the people prepared to be abused before they see the light?
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