Our leaders lack ethics – Motlanthe
“Leaders must hold themselves to high standards”
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe has once again torn into President Jacob Zuma, saying South Africa has been tainted by morally compromised leaders who are corrupt and lacked ethics.
Yesterday, Motlanthe decried the use of state resources for personal gain and warned South Africa was headed to- wards a kleptocracy.
“State resources are being used for personal gain and networks are having devastating consequence for our economy,” Motlanthe said during Oxfam South Africa's launch of Reimagining Africa at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg.
“Distressingly, we find ourselves at this point in contemporary South Africa where present interventions into our political malice are dominated by talk of state capture.”
Motlanthe said those in power have to hold themselves to the high ethical standards they pledged to.
“African leaders are tasked with ensuring that the citizens of their state experience meaningful change in their material, social and economic circumstances of their daily lives.”
Motlanthe, who has said he was not keen to stand for an ANC leadership position when the party holds its conference in December, said the postcolonial experience in SA has been tainted by morally compromised leadership, corruption, lack of ethics and poor governance. “We find ourselves more than 23 years after the inauguration of our democracy living in such times.
“Divisions among us threaten social cohesion of our country. Most worrisome for many has been the present political crisis which is characterised by absence of moral, ethical and just leadership.”
Motlanthe said frankness was required in these times, adding: “Such cannot be silenced by those who view disagreement as ill-discipline.”
He said democracy was presently facing numerous pressing challenges that “ex-
‘‘ ... many citizens continue to be ignored, unheard and unseen
tend to the very heart of its governance and leadership.
“It is evidence that many citizens continue to be ignored, unheard and unseen.”
Motlanthe’s comment can be interpreted as a reference to Zuma’s controversial midnight cabinet reshuffle in March.
Motlanthe said many African liberation parties had forgotten about the people who put them in office.
Former SACP spokesman Mazibuko Jara said there was “severe distress and strain” in the country. “Many of the socioeconomic hopes that our people had in 1994 remain unaddressed.”