MAKHUDU SEFARA | If Brian Molefe’s arrest makes Ramaphosa our hero, we’re a nation of zeroes

Sometimes we engage in so much CR-bashing, not undeserved, that we fail to see the tiny particles that constitute progress in our country. Well, we may not agree on whether the good is in spite of him or if he is the self-effacing orchestrator of the smidgen of successes we see.

It is common cause that so much is going wrong. It feels, to quote our communists, like we are on autopilot. When bandits use skin colour and language to decide who gets health care and who perishes in their private lodgings, you know we are in loss control mode. When zama zamas decide what mine dump to take over, what shebeen bloodbath to unleash, which women to gang-rape, you don’t need an expert to spell it out for you.

But the arrest this week of Brian Molefe, the former Transnet and Eskom CEO, represents forward movement in the battle against fraud and corruption, but importantly the sort of impunity associated with those close to power. Molefe is not just another senior civil servant — he was part of the de facto kitchen cabinet that ran our country, well, to the ground, you may add.

So his arrest ought correctly to have sent shivers down the spines of those considered senior, especially politicians, who were responsible for state capture. What then is the meaning of his arrest? Is this supposed to tell us Ramaphosa meant well when he pledged to fight corruption? Is it supposed to communicate the message that all those politicians who appeared before the state of capture commission of inquiry chaired by chief justice Raymond Zondo that the sun is setting and their dates of reckoning are fast approaching? Perhaps Ramaphosa, the corruption buster, is not a ruse. Perhaps.

Or is Shamila Batohi, national director of public prosecutions, simply succeeding, ably assisted, of course, by investigators, in spite of Ramaphosa being at the Union Buildings? If the façade of Ramaphosa, the corruption buster, is to be believed, what then of his Phala Phala shenanigans?

It is the idea that Ramaphosa is silent because he is unsure what to say that creates an image of a man worse than the wrecking ball that is his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

It’s hard to understand why Ramaphosa refuses, as we witnessed again in parliament this week, to provide a glimpse into what happened at his now infamous farm in Limpopo.

The background is common knowledge. We are told he had more than R60m in dollar notes, was robbed by a band of Namibian village crooks assisted by his helper, before the crew were silently hunted down, kidnapped, assaulted, released only after being paid hush money and made to swear to secrecy. Ramaphosa has kept quiet, choosing only to say he is co-operating with law-enforcement agencies who, whichever way you look at it, report to him.

It’s not the allegations against him per se that sully his reputation, however serious they are. It is the idea that Ramaphosa is silent because he is unsure what to say that does not create an image of a man worse than the wrecking ball that is his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. It is also knowing Ramaphosa can’t share bits of information that he can’t take back in case he contradicts himself, that says he must be looking into a very dark abyss. It makes even his ardent supporters doubt themselves when they breathe words of support for him, which may come back to haunt them should it turn out our corruption buster has sold us nothing but a mirage.

Some, of course, will support Ramaphosa regardless of the mud around him simply because the rise of the opposing faction means they will either lose their jobs or the country is set for a State Capture 2 horror movie!

Either way, while the arrest of Molefe and company should be celebrated, it represents not our victory against corruption but simply an important mark in the long journey to clean up after Zuma. To arrest Molefe is not to prove him guilty. At the very least, it’s to express the confidence of police and prosecutors in their case against him. We must hope they have a watertight case — otherwise attention moves right back to whether Batohi is this much-vaunted silver bullet. What’s sad is Ramaphosa can’t publicly congratulate those behind Molefe’s arrest for their gallant fight against corruption without unleashing the embarrassing irony of such a message.

That said, it’s common cause that so much seems to be going wrong in our country. Migration. Rampant criminality. Fringe groups that violate human rights. Collapse of service delivery. And a president taking deserved flak.

But whatever the force behind Molefe’s arrest is — be it CR or in spite of him — it represents progress. The poor voters of our country deserve to see a bigger list of arrested and prosecuted crooks.