The 28th anniversary of the speech to Parliament that changed the trajectory of politics on February 2 1990 was celebrated by the FW de Klerk Foundation by holding a conference with the upbeat title Beyond State Capture and Corruption, with a galaxy of powerful speakers. The tone was generally more celebratory than analytical; even the announcement that rain was falling at Century City as the conference began (sadly only enough to turn the dust on delegates’ cars into streaky mud) was met with relieved applause. In his opening salvo, De Klerk himself stressed the utility of the Constitution as a uniting factor and repeated the mantra "leadership with integrity" several times. Indeed, the lack of leadership with integrity is both a past and a present problem in the upper echelons of the ANC, given the track record of President Jacob Zuma, the current Hawks investigation of Ace Magashula and the civil antiharassment interdict obtained against DD Mabuza. It is quite remarkable that two...

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