ANC ignores its own conscience
‘It is tedious and insulting to the South African public to continually hear that we are renewing, we are sorting things out, we are changing, etc, when there is no evidence of this.”
This is the view of the ANC’S own conscience — its integrity commission.
But the ANC’S national executive committee (NEC) and other top officials, it would appear, have no inclination to follow through with the commission’s many recommendations to act against corrupt party members.
No further signs are needed to show that the ANC is unwilling to remodel itself as a leader of society, no matter how many times it pays lip service to its renewal project.
No one puts it more aptly than the integrity commission itself. In its annual report delivered by its head, George Mashamba, he details a startling yet unsurprising timeline of how the ANC, its president and other officials have made it their mission to not only ignore but suppress the commission’s work during his term.
According to Mashamba, crucial issues regarding integrity and, by extension, organisational renewal have been, at best, avoided and, at worst, deliberately hidden.
If the recommendations had been implemented or at least discussed, they could have served as a platform to unite the ruling party and boost its efforts at self-rejuvenation. But this no longer seems to be the ANC’S goal.
Not long ago, Mashamba spoke about how the integrity commission was essentially left to its own devices with no resources, including laptops and other equipment.
It is no wonder then, that the commission’s meetings with ANC officials, including President Cyril Ramaphosa — who ironically has preached “renewal” the loudest — have fallen on deaf ears.
It also stands to reason that Zizi Kodwa, a man charged with ensuring state security, would appear three times before the party elders and insult their intelligence with lies.
A look back at its recommendations from the days of the ANC’S president Jacob Zuma until now gives one a clear understanding of the commission’s standing in the ANC — pointless.
Over the years, ANC leaders have called for its strengthening. Former party secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe recently joined the call for the commission to be legitimised by having it cemented in the party’s constitution. He and former president Thabo Mbeki have also sounded the alarm over the NEC’S inability to follow through on its recommendations.
Instead the ANC has backtracked on its promise to give more teeth to the body. It’s no wonder that Ramaphosa has sought to save face with his supporters by twice “presenting” himself before the body in a bid to appear transparent, but refusing to answer any and all questions.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the ANC’S grand scheme of renewal.
M&G Media Ltd