A masterclass in the evasion of accountability sets a dangerous precedent to accelerate our unravelling

One of the few things that unite us as South Africans is the belief that we are exceptional. Perhaps it is our apartheid history and the assemblage of people who led the fight for freedom that contribute to the sense that we occupy a special place in the world.

Just this week, people across the globe marked the 101st birthday of our first president, Nelson Mandela, conducting acts of goodwill in his name.

Mandela and his generation of leaders were truly exceptional.

The political leaders who came after them are not.

Neither are we as a nation. We can fall, just like others have.

The idea that today’s ANC leaders and members are torchbearers of the party’s rich and gallant history is a fallacy. There is no resemblance whatsoever between the ANC now and the liberation movement that delivered our democracy.

Our society is in decline and the political leadership is reflective of this. Greed, social status, entitlement, insults and violence are what turn the political wheel.

There is nobody in any political party who would sacrifice their lives for justice and the rights of others.

People still refer to each other as “comrade” but the spirit of comradeship that defined the liberation struggle is long gone. Selfinterest and the pursuit of power and personal wealth have replaced the values of the freedom struggle.

Former president Jacob Zuma’s conduct at the Zondo commission this week, claiming to be a victim of a 30-year conspiracy to destroy his political career and kill him, and refusing

to answer questions about what took place during his presidency, plunged us to a new low.

He made a mockery of the state-capture inquiry with his obfuscation and treachery, and was able to again wriggle out of accounting for the corruption that occurred on his watch and the reckless decisions he made as president.

Zuma’s behaviour caused much gloom among ANC veterans and former activists. By insinuating that some of the ANC’s most senior leaders — and not just those he named as apartheid agents — had colluded in a grand conspiracy against him, Zuma brought shame on a glorious history.

One party veteran was in tears as he told me he felt deeply embarrassed that a former president of the ANC had conducted himself in such a “disgraceful” way.

It is difficult not to feel despondent at the suspicion that there could ultimately be no consequences for the perpetrators of state capture.

The grave danger now is the normalisation of corruption in our society.

Fraud, bribery and rigged contracts are already becoming part of the normal course of doing business in SA. Corruption networks have infested municipalities, government departments and stateowned enterprises.

But most of this remains hidden from public view.

The reason the Zondo commission has gripped public attention is that it gives insight into how the looting machinery operates and successfully skims billions from the national coffers.

Zuma’s performance at the commission and objections by his lawyers to him being “cross-examined” by evidence leader Paul Pretorius encourage the evasion of accountability.

Pretorius and the commission chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, were already overly cautious so as not to antagonise Zuma.

They had not even come close to the commission’s core business and the main allegations that Zuma has to answer regarding his own actions to support the state-capture project.

On Friday, Zuma first withdrew from the proceedings and then, following discussions with the judge, agreed to come back to the commission at a later stage.

There is no guarantee that his attitude will be any different when he returns or that he will be more amenable to accounting for his actions.

Zuma seems to genuinely believe that because of the conspiracy he concocted, he is absolved from accountability and owes no explanations for his time as head of state.

This sets a dangerous precedent.

Though President Cyril Ramaphosa has staked his presidency on the fight against corruption, he and future leaders should never be allowed to feel as invincible as Zuma does.

There are already too many narcissists in the political arena who believe they are extraordinary leaders and feel entitled to be at the top of the food chain.

Our nation has developed a high tolerance threshold for the nonsense uttered by politicians to excuse their bad behaviour.

Famed British historian Arnold Toynbee wrote that “civilisations die from suicide, not by murder”.

Our society is nearer to collapse than it has ever been, with thugs and rogues dominating the political space and everyone else on the retreat to save themselves.

After all we have come through, we cannot be the generation that surrenders and allows the fall.