EDITORIAL | Has parliament become a refuge for scoundrels?

When Zizi Kodwa resigned as minister of sports, arts and recreation after his arrest and subsequent appearance in court, there was a collective sigh of relief within and outside the ANC.

Here was a minister not willing to drag the ANC through the mud and also willing to spare government the indignity of associating with one accused of corruption and bribery. He was lauded even as many agreed he must have his day in court to face the wrath of the law. 

When he was sworn in as an MP after the recent elections, many wondered why he was not stepping aside from parliament too, to spare it the claim of it being home to shady characters and scoundrels. But the ANC explained that its step aside rule does not mean that its cadres like Kodwa must be unemployed, it simply means they must not be elevated to positions in cabinet, for example. 

The country, sadly, must rely on the MKP as the third biggest party to hold those in government accountable. How are these shady characters going to lead this battle?

That said, many felt the stench of corruption around him should have been enough for the ANC to keep him in abeyance until he had cleared his name. But as fate would have it, Kodwa was sworn in alongside other shady characters, almost to say birds of a feather ...

These included disgraced former Western Cape judge president John Hlophe, who joined parliament as putative Leader of the Opposition, the MK Party, assuming that the newly-announced marriage between the ANC and the DA will lead to them being joined at the hip in government.

Hlophe was impeached by parliament in February after the Judicial Service Commission concluded that he was guilty of gross misconduct. The charge stemmed from his attempt in 2008 to influence two Constitutional Court judges to rule in a manner favourable to former president Jacob Zuma in cases related to the arms deal corruption charges. It is these charges that Zuma is set to face in the Pietermaritzburg high court soon. It is debatable whether Zuma appointed Hlophe because the latter lost his job trying to save him from his arms deal corruption charges.

Alongside Hlophe was Des van Rooyen, caricatured on social media as the “weekend special” for having been finance minister for one weekend in December 2015 in what was seem by some as part of Zuma's state capture chess play. The markets' reaction to his appointment forced Zuma to remove him. The MKP has also brought back to parliament Andile Mngxitama, the infamous former leader of Black First Land First who initially became an MP under Julius Malema's EFF. He soon clashed with the EFF as it raised the temperature against the Zuma regime. He said the EFF's attempt to remove Zuma was like an attempt at a coup, which led to the party throwing him out. 

But as he dallied with different parties, Mngxitama also proved himself to have an acerbic tongue, and was reprimanded for calling for the killing of white people along with their pets.

Another controversial figure joining parliament for the MKP was Zuma's own daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, infamous for using social media to indirectly encourage mayhem when the July riots broke out in 2021 after the arrest of her father. Of all Zuma's children, Duduzile has cemented her place as the one closest to her father. She has stayed alongside him, even when some of Zuma's offspring chose to remain with the ANC, such as Edward Zuma, or start their own political parties, like Duduzane. She has proved to be a dependable ally of her father in his political and court battles, using social media and now, it would seem, parliament.

In the end, one thing is for sure: Zuma rewards loyalty. And with Zuma at the helm of this new party that surprised many with its 45% performance in KwaZulu-Natal and becoming the country's third-biggest party. The MK Party has in a short space positioned itself to become a patronage-dishing machine for Zuma.

But of greater concern is how the party has quickly revealed itself as a refuge for individuals with questionable ethics and morals. A judge not good enough for our courts, properly impeached by parliament itself, has now dramatically returned to become a legislator for us all. The MKP seems a gathering of rebels or a collection of Zuma's wounded soldiers. 

With the ANC and DA firmly ensconced in a new marriage of convenience, the country, sadly, must rely on the MKP as the third biggest party to hold those in government accountable. How are these shady characters going to lead this battle? From the ANC's Kodwa to the litany of shady characters in MKP, it seems the voters are on their own.