Time for Steenhuisen and Ramaphosa to have tea
but by those who watch them without doing anything — Albert Einstein.
That the ANC is corrupt to its core is indisputably clear from all accounts and in particular, from the disgusting revelations and the Zondo commission.
However, in all fairness, corruption in SA is nothing new.
As far back as 1652, Jan van Riebeeck, an employee of the Dutch East India company, was sent to colonise the Cape as a second chance to redeem himself.
He was apparently dismissed because he used his office and position to further his personal financial interests.
And in reality, corruption has featured in SA political life for much of the past 350 years.
Even icons of industry proved to have feet of clay.
Cecil Rhodes was found guilty of giving a friend an 18year catering contract for the SA Railways.
And if ever there was an immoral system, apartheid was certainly the epitome of corruption, the fertile breeding ground for so much malfeasance.
I recall with some revulsion an incident when I was a young bank manager in one of our cities.
A distinguished minister of religion from a well-known church denomination approached me for a loan to purchase a piece of valuable ground earmarked for a township development.
A whole community had been uprooted in terms of the apartheid laws, and the ground cleared of all homes and so on.
The ground was offered at some ridiculously low price to the church minister via a family connection.
He unashamedly told me he had earmarked one of the subdivided plots in my name.
All this from a man of God, who obviously saw nothing wrong in benefiting from the forced removals which caused so much misery and pain.
Filled with revulsion at the time, I refused. My skin still crawls when I think of the incident.
More disturbing is the corruption mentality which is embedded in our South African psyche, particularly when it becomes an accepted personal way of life.
I overheard a conversation where this man was gloating about the wonderful bargain he had just negotiated.
“And on top of it,” he said, “if I paid in cash, I would not be charged VAT.”
Many of us would agree it was a great bargain, but are we morally correct?
Are we ethical in not declaring income on our tax returns, placing a R100 note with our driver’s licence as a bribe ... and so on?
Where do we draw the line? Does one accept the fact that everyone is born corrupt ... perhaps some more so than others?
However, you cannot be more pregnant than pregnant.
Corruption is corruption no matter how much one tries to ameliorate the fact.
Our country will emerge from the devastating Covid-19 pandemic but with its political scenario in a dreadful mess. Our president is in a bind second to none.
Floundering between “Scylla and Charybdis”, he is unable to provide the leadership our country so desperately needs.
Vladimir Putin said: “Those who fight corruption should be clean themselves.”
OECD secretary-general Angel Gurría said: “Integrity, transparency and the fight against corruption have to be part of the culture.
“They have to be taught as fundamental values.”
Applying these tenets to our custodians of the nation’s cultural values reflects a sad conclusion.
However, the most disturbing factor facing SA’s future is an uneducated electorate.
They are incapable of rational thought, are easily manipulated by unscrupulous leaders and totally inept at individual decision-making.
The gathering of the MK vets at Nkandla, supposedly assembled to protect Jacob Zuma from being arrested, is ludicrous in the extreme.
Are they prepared to physically confront the authorities?
The crowd of ANC supporters bused into Bloemfontein in support of Ace Magashule again demonstrated their infantile posturing, rolling about on the tar road, hopping up and down as if on pogo sticks.
Surely, these are acts of barbarism and one must question the mentality of these people?
In the meantime, the Magashules and Zumas do as they please. Their histrionics would be hilariously funny if not so deadly serious.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. The sad reality is that despite the lateness of the hour, no shining saviour emerges, and we are stuck with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Is Ramaphosa’s past the sword of Damocles the proZuma faction wields over him, emasculating his leadership?
However, like it or not, he is certainly by far the pick of a sorry bunch.
“There’s been progress, but corruption remains [a] great impediment to growth,” Ramaphosa declared during Sona.
His open acknowledgment coupled with the Zondo commission exposing the depth of the corruption, could prove to be a catharsis in bringing some transparency to corrupt practices.
The fact that the Zondo commission is transparent and Ramaphosa’s recent anticorruption sentiments do give a small glimmer of hope.
Perhaps there are one or two ANC members who may be feeling a twinge of shame?
The proof, however, will be in the pudding.
Will the culprits be brought to account for their deeds and punished accordingly?
The sheer number of guilty people is astonishing.
Meanwhile, in the wings Julius Malema lurks.
He is hell-bent on being president some day and though the EFF has kept him relevant with the uneducated masses, he realises his ambition will only be fulfilled via the ANC.
And so, do not be surprised that in time a merger between the parties, in particular [with] the pro-Zuma faction, takes place.
Our politics are maturing into those who have and those who do not.
And the time is fast approaching when conservatives from across all sectors of our rainbow nation will have to find each other.
Otherwise, this country is doomed to being just another failed banana republic.
It is time for Ramaphosa and DA leader John Steenhuisen to have tea.