ANC has to clean its own rotting fish head
At the end of August the head of the National Prosecuting Authority s (NPA) ’ investigating directorate, Hermione Cronje, told the Sunday Times that the first high-profile individual suspected of corruption would be arrested in September.
South Africans were understandably sceptical, and earlier this week, with just one day left in the month and still no arrests, it seemed Cronje was going to disappoint.
The directorate was set up in April 2019, mainly to deal with issues about state capture and the allegations coming out of the Zondo commission of inquiry. There had been no arrests relating to state capture.
But on Wednesday morning news broke that the Hawks had arrested five of the seven alleged masterminds behind the asbestos audit project in the Free State a matter the
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commission headed by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo had recently heard evidence on.
Among those arrested was ANC benefactor Edwin Sodi, the business person whose company was awarded the controversial R255m asbestos removal project tender. During his testimony before the Zondo commission Sodi alleged that ministers and deputy ministers now serving in President Cyril Ramaphosa s cabinet, as well as
’ other senior ANC members, received multimillion-rand payments from him between 2013 and 2019. He named health minister Zweli Mkhize, employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi, deputy state security minister Zizi Kodwa and deputy communications & digital technologies minister Pinky Kekana.
A day later there was another arrest this time
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relating to the Bosasa matter, which the state capture commission has also heard evidence about, including allegations that bribes were paid to high-profile politicians. On Thursday morning former ANC MP Vincent Smith handed himself over to the Hawks and appeared in court on charges of corruption and fraud. Smith s co-accused is
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former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi, who testified at the commission how the facilities company lined the pockets of ANC heavyweights and state officials in exchange for furthering its business interests with the government.
One of the officials he accused was Smith, who chaired the parliamentary portfolio committee on correctional services, which monitored Bosasa s
’
management of SA s prisons.
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Smith allegedly accepted bribes from the company but has denied any wrongdoing, saying he will clear his name in court.
The charges against him relate to evidence that he accepted two payments from Bosasa in 2015 and 2016, totalling R671,000. Smith told Zondo in September that the money was a personal loan from Agrizzi for his daughter s
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university fees, but Agrizzi has denied this.
The arrests over the past two days have shown that SA s
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criminal justice system, which was decimated in the past decade, is finally starting to work again. As the majority of SA s law-abiding citizens celebrate this, those who have been caught up in the deep web of state capture will be having sleepless nights wondering when the long arm of the law will reach them. Because it now appears more likely that it will.
This is going to be a test for the ANC s and Ramaphosa s
’ ’
anticorruption crusade. Since the party s national executive
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committee (NEC) came out in support of the president and resolved that those facing corruption charges must step aside from all leadership positions in the party, legislatures or other government structures pending the finalisation of their cases, there has been pushback. None of those facing charges, such as ANC MP Bongani Bongo, have stepped aside. There have been reports of some wanting to challenge the decision in court, claiming they are innocent until proven otherwise.
There has been no real reinforcement of this decision from the top leaders. That is possibly because some will themselves be facing criminal charges soon if the Hawks and NPA remain on their trajectory.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has been implicated in, among other things, the Estina dairy farm matter; the party s national chair, Gwede
Mantashe, was fingered in the Bosasa allegations; and treasurer Paul Mashatile was flagged in Sodi s evidence to the
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state capture commission.
If these ANC leaders find themselves criminally charged, will they step down from their positions in the party? And if they don t, who is going to
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enforce the party s own
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resolutions against them? ANC Women s League
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president Bathabile Dlamini s
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words will come to haunt them: All of us in the NEC have
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our smallanyana skeletons and we don t want to take all
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skeletons out because hell will break loose.”
But if the ANC is really serious about rooting out corruption and proving to South Africans that it is turning a corner, it needs to enforce its own rules and decisions, no matter the party rank of those concerned. If not, we will just keep going in circles and nothing will change, no matter how many arrests are made.
Quintal is political editor.
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN THE DEEP WEB OF STATE CAPTURE WILL BE HAVING SLEEPLESS NIGHTS