Khoza not the culprit

THE resignation of Dr Makhosi Khoza from the ANC is regrettable. It empties the organisation of good people, leaving the Zuma faction to continue misrepresenting the true values of the organisation unchallenged.

Ironically, Khoza represents the qualities we need in our leadership. She represents transparency. This is in contrast to a president who has remained mum on the major corruption scandals of the Presidency. Khoza also represents the values of the ANC and refuses to divide the organisation along factional lines as the Zuma faction is doing. Above all, she brings no past baggage to the leadership. She is not a career politician recycled from our endless opportunistic candidates who have been silent about corruption for the past eight years but who are now parading themselves as champions of transparency to fool us into electing them into power once more.

The charges against Khoza were always trumped up charges brought by the Zuma faction. One of its absurdities is the charge that Khoza brought the ANC into “ill-repute”. If the Zuma faction is really interested in preserving the ANC reputation, it would have charged Zuma for bringing the ANC into disrepute. It is him who stands accused of endless violations of the law, of corruption and incompetence in managing the economy.

ANC presidents have always been the standardbearers of the ANC constitution and its lofty values since its inception. They have always been the symbol of unity, constitutionality and cohesion.

That all changed with the Zuma presidency, which instead magnified legitimate differences into gaping holes. It is that faction that is now presiding over a new campaign of purging the organisation of new ideas and those who advocate them.

As we march slowly but inevitably to the 2019 election it is important for us as the electorate to toss out of the window some of the myths we have accumulated in our long debate over our future.

The first of the myths is that criticism of Zuma’s behaviour is criticism of the ANC.

This is, of course, the propaganda of the Zumarites meant to silence their critics.

The truth is much simpler. The ANC emerged at Polokwane with a divided platform. His primary duty as chief executive was to unite, build and strengthen the divided party. He failed miserably.

He failed because instead of unity, he pursued a policy of creating factions that would entrench his political power and quest for a personality cult. It is under his leadership that all the local structures of the ANC have collapsed into a chaotic dysfunctional rubble. The other big myth is that the ANC is a corrupt organisation. It would be more accurate to state that there are corrupt people within the ANC. The ANC’s lofty values continue to exist awaiting those like Khoza, willing to remove the contaminating flies in its ointment.

There are sinners in all churches but the church remains holy because it still embodies church values. The other myth is that the ANC cannot be revived to its former glory.

That can happen only if we don’t succumb to the Zuma personality cult, which seeks to purge the organisation of its good cadres through spurious charges that are meant to suppress dialogue.

A new and visionary leader can still rescue the organisation. The sad reality is that Zuma represents Zuma. That is why he is able to be deaf to the pleas to step down for the good of the greater society.

We urge Khoza to withdraw her resignation and help defend the ANC Constitution and its values.

She has the capacity to shine the light on the kangaroo courts. — Wongaletu Vanda

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