Beware the pedlars of power
Pastor Ray McCauley is the president of Rhema Family Churches and co-chairman of the National Religious Leaders Council
AS THE Gupta Leaks scandal continued to unravel week after week, the veracity of the e-mails is no longer in dispute. In fact the ministers who have been implicated or are mentioned in the e-mails have not disputed them.
Some of the ministers have confirmed the contents of the e-mails while some people, like the Guptas, have decided not to respond to media queries. Meanwhile, the ANC continues to be in a tailspin of sorts as damage is being done to its image.
After all, it is its deployments – except for President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane, his benefactors and a few public sector officials – who are mentioned. Some of the ministers who have cropped up in the e-mail leaks include Minister of Public Service and Administration Faith Muthambi, Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen and Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba. They all hold key positions in our government.
The ANC has reason to be concerned. The alliance is in an upheaval moment as a result of the state capture allegations and voters are likely to punish the ANC come the 2019 elections.
It is a punishment that will be well deserved as there are some within the ANC who are seen to have chosen the Guptas over its own and/or the people. It is this behaviour that perplexes some of us.
The ANC is the oldest liberation organisation in Africa. It has a proud history and is revered (or used to be) all over the world.
It was led by men and women of principle who inspired hope among millions.
What went wrong? We ask ourselves. Is the ANC or some of its leaders so beholden to the Guptas that it would risk its rich legacy and position in society? In pursuit of what? Apart from all the above considerations, whatever happened to people’s sense of shame? What is coming out of the Gupta Leaks is shameful but with a leadership to whom everything has seemingly become relative and tolerable, we are led to believe the lapses and plain criminality are mere teachable moments.
There are standards for playing soccer. Violate them and you get penalised. There are standards for living and ordered life.
I listen to some in the ANC today defending the indefensible and I reach the conclusion that there has crept in a culture that seems to deplore the straight and promote the crooked. People in the ruling party who wish to promote the tawdry and the dirty commerce that makes them a fine living have no sense of shame about the collateral damage they are causing to their party while mortgaging our country to foreigners who seemingly wish for its destruction. Like I said in my previous column, this is tragic.
Why would ministers paid by citizens give us a kick in the teeth and betray our trust in the manner some of them are alleged to have done? Why would a minister feel obliged to share with private business people the deliberations and decisions of the cabinet before these become public knowledge? Is the ANC’s integrity going to pursue these matters or will it simply roll over and be dictated to by one faction?
The revelations made recently that the Guptas knew about the appointment of former Minister of Transport Ben Martins and started recruiting advisers for him, show the extent of Gupta control over state affairs. The disclosure by one of Martin’s advisers about how the Guptas wanted to influence Martins and the appointment of board members to certain key parastatals point to a disturbing pattern as do allegations of people’s CVs, including those of ministers, having been sent to them.
Who gave these fellows so much power? The citizens didn’t. We gave power to the ANC and its president. What they did with that power, they must tell the citizens.
On this one, the ANC must come clean with the voting public and its day of reckoning is not too far.
I have to date avoided mentioning the president’s son when commenting on these matters but Duduzane Zuma’s name keeps on coming up in presidential and state matters. What business does he have meeting ministers and facilitating meetings between them and his business friends?
Duduzane is a close Gupta associate and is believed to have made a fortune through this partnership. Good for him.
Like his father, he has the right to choose his own friends. Also, he has the right to pursue a business career.
I do hope though that his accumulation of wealth is beyond reproach and that pedlars of political power have not used him or his family’s name in the process.