Focus on predatory corrupters lets Zuma off hook for betrayal
Asentence construction so subtle that at any other time in South African history it would have gone unnoticed articulates with chilling precision the nation’s condition: vertiginous, bewildering, elucidating — like the acid trip to which Mickey Newbury’s 1960s song refers.
The subtle shift is from a previously assumed incidental corrupting influence by business people on politicians to that of business people having acquired political cronies.
The phrase, “a sustained attack by corrupt business people and their political cronies”, occurs in an editorial comment in Business Day about Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s report on the Bankorp-Absa lifeboat.
It might have referred to any of the bewildering number of instances in which President Jacob Zuma’s cabal has been reduced to mere cronies and an international syndicate is elevated to puppet master and de facto ruler.
The shift in emphasis is important because, even if unintended, it reduces the gravity of the charges against Zuma and cronies and pins the blame for SA’s crisis on members of the Gupta family.
That would be a mistake. In the first instance, corrupters come and go, beginning in recent history with arms dealers taking the new SA for a R70bn ride almost before democracy got going. And thus they will continue, spawning in any cesspool with proximity to a captive public purse for as long as humans remain open to temptation.
Their crime is that of the predator, corrupting the weak. It is in their nature. They are small-time crooks, nothing more, their sorry, empty lives consumed by cheap diversions, bluster and braggadocio.
If you must work up a feeling for the Guptas, let it be pity. We may judge them for having wasted their lives, but they have been true to their nature. In a sense, they keep the promises they make.
The president and his cronies are a different matter. Zuma’s trespass against his country is betrayal. It is the essence of trespass. South Africans have placed their trust in Zuma, and they have been betrayed.
We rightly expect our head of state to set aside his vanities and serve the people, which must include stepping down when the demands of office exceed his moral and intellectual capacity, yet he reigns still.
In this, the ANC stands equally accused. With every moment in which the party delays the recall of Zuma, the weight of transgression increases. No one with the nous to cast a vote can still believe that Zuma or his ANC is able or willing to work towards a better life for all South Africans. The Save SA campaign and the party stalwarts know this better than anyone else.
Ordinary citizens, too, must share in the burden. We have allowed ourselves to be misled and now we watch in disbelief as raw sewage backs up into the drinking water, the lights go out, hospitals turn into charnel houses and our children turn into vacuous zombies. This is what we have done. We are responsible. Now we must account for our inaction.
How like small change R70bn seems now, but letting the arms deal go was when we issued an invitation to corrupters. We took it on the chin and now we are paying the price.
The lesson learnt should have been that for citizens to defer responsibility for governance constitutes a moral hazard; democratic politics is not enough coverage to insure the nation against robbery.
Justice must be done. Members of the Gupta family who have corrupted politicians must stand trial for their pedestrian crimes, but those who have betrayed us must be condemned for the traitors that they are, and treated as such.
It is clear, though, that neither the ANC nor the DA nor any political party nor any self-serving agency can do this on its own. We must do this ourselves, starting with rejecting the condition our condition is in, best rendered by Kenny Rogers:
“I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in / I watched myself crawling out as I was a-crawling in / I got up so tight I couldn’t unwind / I saw so much I broke my mind / I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.” ● Blom is a fly-fisherman who likes to write.
THE LESSON LEARNT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THAT FOR CITIZENS TO DEFER RESPONSIBILITY FOR GOVERNANCE CONSTITUTES A MORAL HAZARD