ANC’s Chapter 9 plan ‘sinister’

A political commentator has blasted the ANC’s proposal for a single unitary Chapter 9 institution, saying it is a sinister move that will take the country backwards.

Another analyst thinks the body will be too bulky and useless.

Chapter 9 institutions are established in terms of Chapter 9 of the South African constitution to guard democracy.

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga, reacting to the ANC proposal contained in one of its policy discussion documents released at the weekend, said the ANC’s proposal was sinister.

“It takes away the whole decentralised anticorruption mechanism that exists and works well. So it is a nonstarter,” he said.

This sentiment, albeit in milder terms, was echoed by Cape Town-based political analyst Sanusha Naidu, who said a single body would bring a lot of frustration to those who looked up to these institutions to fight for their rights.

She said some Chapter 9 bodies, particularly the public protector and the auditor-general, had been doing a commendable job in their current form to make the state account for its decisions.

The public protector, especially, had been very vigilant in keeping accountability, said Naidu.

“The auditor-general had put the spotlight on things that must be accounted for and all of these matters were very important. But having a single institution that would be bulky and complicated opens the risk to sweep issues under the carpet.”

Under the proposed body, frustrations would take place as delivery would take longer. “There will be a lot of objectives on paper, but very little in terms of practical work,” she said.

However, Naidu said it would be critical that whoever was appointed to head the institution ensured that it did its work properly, without fear or favour, as former public protector Thuli Madonsela had demonstrated.

Regarding the ANC discussion document’s silence on the State of Capture issue, Mathekga and Naidu said the party should tread carefully on the matter.

“The idea of state capture is still too contentious to make it to the policy documents. There is no chance of a consensus on state capture, hence the silence,” Mathekga said.

Naidu said it was not surprising that the ANC was silent on this issue as the party wanted to avoid controversial matters lest it indicted itself as a result. “They recognise the weaknesses in this matter but it would be an antithesis for them to admit this. They don’t want to call it state capture because they don’t want to indict themselves in the process.”