WE AWAIT RAMAPHOSA’S ACCOUNT

FOR many years South Africans have yearned for accountability. They have longed for the day those in positions of power, be it in the public sector or government, eventually face the music and are held accountable.

When our elders stood in long queues getting their faces burned by the sun on April 27, 1994, they thought they were finally getting a government that would be rooted in accountability – a government that prioritises its citizens and one that decisively deals with corruption and any attempts to capture the key institutions of our deeply divided nation.

Watching the Zondo Commission of Inquiry Into Allegations of State Capture has felt like watching a very predictable pre-recorded nursery school play over and over again.

It has become a commission in which individuals go for their one day of irresponsible fame without bringing anything tangible to the table.

Over the past two days Brian Molefe’s testimony left us with all kinds of questions that need longawaited answers.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has again been mentioned, with all evidence pointing in his direction.

We shouldn’t ignore Brian Molefe’s testimony just because the evidence is being given by someone we don’t like. People should listen to the facts, make up their own minds and ask critical questions of this administration.

We shouldn’t ignore that Molefe has on numerous occasions told us that Glencore sold shares to our president in order to gain political support. We shouldn’t ignore how he headed the war room during Molefe’s tenure at Eskom.

We cannot ignore the fact that Glencore’s Optimum mine wanted to renegotiate the contract that Molefe himself found at Eskom – a negotiation that would see this state-owned enterprise pay a staggering R530/ton from R150/ton. A clear move to milk taxpayers and send our SOE into financial ruin.

This is the very same deal that our current president had a hand in and wanted the power utility to renegotiate.

We await Ramaphosa’s testimony.