Not holding my breath for ‘clean’ ANC members

Where is the ruling party going to find any candidates without blemishes and clean records, asks Jean Michel from Bryanston

Ihad a good chuckle when I read the ANC’s new “manifesto guidelines” for selecting public representatives for the 2019 elections. These are some: the party will not allow anyone who has a history of fostering conflict, or who has a criminal record, or whose behaviour has brought the party into disrepute ...

Their parliamentarians alone are supposed to be people of the highest moral standing as they crank out hundreds of laws each year designed to keep the public in line.

But they have among their ranks many who have a bad credit rating, others have been arrested for shoplifting, many of them have been arrested for drunk driving, or arrested for drug-related charges. More than 100 have directly or indirectly bankrupted businesses and others have even been accused of spousal abuse, writing bad cheques or are defendants in lawsuits.

If the ANC is serious about trying to apply their rules strictly, I wonder where are they going to find any candidates without blemishes and clean records to fill all those posts? So I am not holding my breath that they apply these guidelines.