JUSTICE MALALA | ANC will make hay while the sun shines, for it knows darkness is near

Can you hear that? Are you getting it, that slurp-slurp sound?

You’ve heard it before, I’m sure. It’s the sound of ANC cadres licking their lips enthusiastically as they eye the lucrative bogus contracts many are about to sign to ensure that millions of rand flow into their associates’ bank accounts.

We have been here before. South Africans across the political spectrum have been begging President Cyril Ramaphosa to desist from handing over the more than R1bn in flood disaster funds to the KwaZulu-Natal government to ease the devastation that has ravaged the province. Give it to the charity Gift of the Givers, South Africans have pleaded. Give it to anyone — absolutely anyone — except the politicians, say these supplicants.

Ramaphosa and his colleagues might, as the Sunday Times has reported, attempt to find a way for the funds to be disbursed by independent agencies other than government. Yet, as happened with the PPE scandals during the Covid-19 pandemic, he will not stop the rot. He cannot stop it now. It’s too late. The president is a man on a train that has derailed, you see. Being in the ANC is like being on a train that is headed towards disaster. Because it is off the rails and heading into the wilderness, there is absolutely nothing you can do except close your eyes, say a little prayer and hope that the end is quick and devoid of pain. Ramaphosa will give the money and his comrades will steal it. He knows it. We all know it.

The party is over for the ANC. Imagine you are an ANC councillor in eThekwini. You would have to be a certified moron not to realise that the party’s dominance in that metro is coming to an end.

One would think that, given the extent of scrutiny and distrust of government in our country, ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal and their relatives, associates and, let’s put it bluntly, their gang members would think twice about doing anything nefarious with the funds that have been allocated for disaster relief. One would think that they would say: “There is so much talk of the stealing of funds, so let’s allow the heat to subside a little bit. Let’s not steal this time.”

They will not.

Corruption has become part of the ANC’s DNA. Since 1994 corruption has run increasingly deeper and stronger in the party’s inner core. Without the corruption that runs rampant in municipalities, provincial governments and at national level, the ANC of today would wither away and die. For many of the ANC’s current leaders, there is no reason to join the party except to use their connectivity to make money. Money has overtaken all the values, all the aims and objectives of the ANC as a reason for joining the party. Corruption is the main priority of many party cadres.

Nothing illustrates this operating model — and the ANC’s adherence to it — better than the decision of parliament’s joint standing committee on ethics and members’ interests last week. The committee cleared former health minister Zweli Mkhize of conflicts of interest in the Digital Vibes scandal. The facts in that matter are clear: Mkhize’s close associates and former employees nabbed a lucrative, multimillion-rand communications tender from his ministry in extremely suspicious circumstances. The law enforcement agencies are all over the case.

Shockingly, the ethics committee let Mkhize off the hook because the alleged kickbacks were deposited into his son’s account and the sprog, being a married adult, is not considered a close family member as defined by parliament’s code of conduct. As the lawyer Richard Spoor said, any bent politician knows now to ensure that his bribes are paid to a relative.

There is another factor here: desperation by the corrupt. The party is over for the ANC. Imagine you are an ANC councillor in eThekwini. You would have to be a certified moron not to realise that the party’s dominance in that metro is coming to an end in four and a half years’ time. Just 10 years ago the ANC won 61% of the seats in eThekwini. In November last year it got just 42.1%. The opposition is nipping at its heels, with the DA taking 25%, the EFF 10%, the IFP 7% and Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA at 2%. The DA very nearly built a coalition government in eThekwini last year and may still do so. The ANC will not run eThekwini after this term.

In a properly functioning country, the ANC in eThekwini would be doing everything in its power to win back the trust of the masses. In eThekwini the party has elected a corruption accused, Zandile Gumede, as its chairperson. The provincial ANC is preparing to support Mkhize, another corruption accused, as its presidential candidate. Why? They want to loot hard and fast before they are voted out.

So, there is no logical reason to think that the R1bn in disaster relief is going to the poor people who need it. Not at all. It is going to the comrades, to the hyenas, who are all eager to eat before the music stops.