ANC marches on with feet of clay

There is no doubt that ministerial heads should roll in what is proving to be a particularly dysfunctional Cabinet. But if indications which emerged over the weekend are anything to go by, this does not give President Jacob Zuma carte blanche to wield the axe indiscriminately. The reaction from political parties to the attacks on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, has largely been one of dismay, while the defensive laager thrown around a number of ministers who have mishandled their separate mandates, has pointed to a collective system of bulletproof privilege.

The focus has been on the seeming indifference of Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini to the chaos surrounding the social grants fiasco, which has infuriated the SA Communist Party to such a degree that deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila said the party needed to reconfigure its alliance with the ANC. “We are not scared to go at it alone. We will go at it alone at the appropriate time. What is of major consideration for us is to strengthen our revolution together with the alliance component,” is how Mapaila typifies it.

Although the most obvious ministerial miscreants tend to be Zuma loyalists – Sars Commissioner Tom Moyane, Minister of Communications Faith Muthambi, Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and Minister of State Security David Mahlobo spring readily to mind – Minister of Higher Education Blade Ndzimandi has taken a strong anti-Zuma stance.

This can be construed as the SACP’s general secretary brushing the dust over what many see as his inept performance in rise of the #FeesMustFall movement and the mindless violence which followed.

The truth of the frailty at the top of this country’s government lies in the flawed system of cardre deployment and the march of clay feet.