Crying ‘racism’ only blurs the anti-corruption focus
Those who know him say Mzwandile Masina, the Ekurhuleni mayor, is a well-travelled man. It is unclear how much travelling he has done across Africa, however. If he has not been there already, perhaps it is time he visited the continent’s most populous nation, Nigeria. It is a beautiful and bustling country. It has wonderful, hard-working people. Some of the continent’s most talented figures, in the sciences, commerce and literature, hail from this West African nation.
Yet despite its obvious potential as one of Africa’s largest and most advanced economies, its progress since independence some six decades ago has been greatly hindered by one thing: corruption.
Now the Ekurhuleni mayor caused a bit of a storm on Monday when he took to social media and tweeted the following: “Black people must unite, these arrests are targeting abt [sic] black professionals and black business. We need to stand up and be counted. Some Whites have been stealing with impunity and they not arrested. It’s now or never.”
His statement followed weeks of drama during which the Hawks and other law enforcement agencies arrested a number of high-profile suspects in relation to a series of corruption cases, often involving the theft and misuse of public funds.
The tweet also came on the back of a weekend when former president Jacob Zuma expressed much anger that state capture commission investigators had subpoenaed his banking records, and those of some of his children, from financial institutions. This newspaper also revealed last weekend that similar subpoenas had been issued for the bank accounts of EFF leader Julius Malema, some of his associates and a couple of highprofile ANC leaders.
While most South Africans welcome the latest arrests as a step in the right direction for a country where corruption has become endemic and where those politicians and senior officials who have been implicated continue to roam the streets freely, Masina is clearly offended by them.
It is because they are “targeting” black people, he claims, despite the fact that among those arrested in recent weeks are former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi and ex-VBS CFO Phillip Truter — who are both white.
Of course the mayor would be correct if he were to protest at the fact that prosecutors have not moved on the corruption scandal that was Steinhoff. But to suggest that a whole section of our society comes together in defence of thieves purely based on skin colour?
Widespread corruption, whether committed by whites or blacks, has devastating consequences for a society, especially for its poor and vulnerable.
Nigeria is a painful case study in how corruption in the public and private sectors can lead to military coups, political instability, economic stagnation and the collapse of virtually every important institution.
Over the past 20 years, especially following the fall of the last military dictator, Gen Sani Abacha, Nigerians have taken great strides in rebuilding the federal republic as a true democracy. Unfortunately corruption was allowed to entrench itself so deeply in almost all facets of society during the turbulent years of military rule that it remains a present danger to the current democratic order.
The widespread #EndSars protests we have witnessed in Nigeria over the past two weeks — named for a much-hated police division, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) — are as much a demonstration against police brutality as they are about young Nigerians’ frustration with corruption.
Sars officers are accused of demanding bribes from citizens and of using violence against those who refuse to pay.
The history of police corruption in the oil-rich country dates to the days when state coffers were bled so dry that the government could not pay civil servants decent salaries. A police uniform and a state-issued weapon then became the tools of choice for those who decided to illegally extract their salaries directly from the pockets of defenceless citizens.
This is what happens to countries where corruption goes unpunished. Masina’s call, were it to be heeded, would lead us down that dark road of no return.
Some argue, with justification, that we are already on that path. But the recent wave of arrests suggests that we are turning the corner and that impunity is becoming a thing of the past. We should not be diverted from this path by misguided racial solidarity.