MKHUSELI VIMBA: ANC’s failure to address crime and corruption widens trust deficit with electorate

The governing ANC seems hell-bent on ignoring warnings by senior party members over how it conducts its affairs. For the longest time it has failed to live up to the standard expected of a liberation movement.

The ANC is not the only organisation that brought about democracy in SA — many South Africans, including individuals and members of other parties and non-governmental organisations, contributed to the struggle. But it is the ANC as government that has failed to take advantage of our democracy to change the plight of poor South Africans.

Former president Thabo Mbeki’s recent letter criticising the party was right in many respects. The economy is failing — there is hardly a state-owned entity (SOE) that is not either struggling or on the verge of collapse — and the criminal justice system is similarly afflicted.  

Mbeki’s letter raised important points, specifically related to the ANC’s history of defending its leaders at all costs. The number of scandals taking place in the criminal justice system is also causing the trust deficit in society to grow. The Thabo Bester saga is a case in point — people are saying they will only believe this fugitive from justice has really been caught when he is returned to the country and a DNA test has been conducted.

Given the setbacks we have suffered as a country when it comes to the criminal justice system — the failed Gupta brothers extradition is another case in point — a new approach is required to inspire confidence in the electorate and broader society.

An organisation at war with itself

When crime and corruption are not addressed, this widens the trust deficit between the electorate, society broadly and the governing party. Mbeki’s points are valid in this respect, but it would have been better if they were discussed in a closed forum of ANC structures rather than in the public domain. The unfortunate impression has been created that the current president and party leadership are under attack from the former president. 

The fact that Mbeki's letter has been leaked creates an impression of an organisation that is at war with itself. Some are saying Mbeki had his opportunity to lead, and others that he is right, is still a party member and veteran, and has served in various capacities within the organisation, so he couldn’t let things slide when he saw something wrong.

There is also a view that says Mbeki tried to reach out to the president and failed to get an adequate response. In December he asked the question: “Where is the president? The president should be here.” Perhaps there is frustration on his part that the president is not available to discuss these issues one-to-one.

Certainly, news reports give the impression that the president is avoiding confronting these issues. The whole collective of senior ANC leaders, other than Ramaphosa, attended Tuesday evening’s meeting to discuss Mbeki’s letter. What does that say about him? Does he take the matter seriously? Or is it something he doesn’t want to account for directly to the top leadership of the party, including its former president?

There are many ways of looking at this issue, and I suspect it could be that the president doesn’t have a cogent and concrete explanation to give for what happened at Phala Phala, or he doesn’t know. So there is a lot at stake.    

The former president is not the only one to blast the ANC for avoiding accountability by blocking parliamentary inquiry into the Phala Phala matter, which risks losing the party votes in the upcoming elections. ANC veteran Mavuso Msimang has also been at pains to convince the ANC president to come clean on the Phala Phala saga, but his calls have also fallen on deaf ears.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and five other members voted in favour of a parliamentary inquiry into Phala Phala, and they are now facing disciplinary action within the party for defying the top brass and voting with opposition parties.

Alarm was similarly raised by the late Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu with former president Jacob Zuma. On that occasion he was ridiculed, yet the subsequent local government election outcome vindicated the Arch. The ANC lost several metros.

The electorate is watching all of this with great disappointment and counting the ANC’s now numerous failures. 

• Mkhuseli Vimba, a legal and political analyst, is a legal consultant at Baneka Dalasile Attorneys and CEO of SYLM Economic Development & Research Projects.