Consequence of having no consequence

NOMVULA Mokonyane has had a starring role, a sequel if you like, at the Zondo Commission into State Capture this week.

For commission watchers it has been a fascinating excursion into half-truths and contradictions as the evidence leaders navigate the most banal yet incredibly stomach-churning allegations of crass acts of bribery corruption.

The commission has inexorably trundled forward, whether it be food parcels for the poor, which include the finest liquors, or an ostrich-head-in-the-sand approach to largesse, which is doubly terrifying when displayed by someone supposedly appointed to as important a post as a Cabinet minister and before that a premier.

Since August 2018, we, as a nation, have been transfixed by the raft of allegations aired and the seeming mass of prima facie evidence that has been presented.

And yet very little, if any, action has been taken by the National Prosecuting Authority.

There has been neither censure nor suspension from any other quarter either.

What then is the point of the Zondo Commission?

The unfortunate consequence of everyone doing nothing only serves to normalise the wrongdoing to such an extent that the nation feels numbed by the revelations and the guilty believe they can behave with impunity.

The most obscene manifestation of this, has been the industrial-level thieving and craven corruption shown most recently by the personal protective equipment profiteers, many of whom had only their political connections as their commercial credentials.

It seems that far from being a balm to soothe our tortured and abused collective soul as a nation, the Zondo Commission is fast turning into an opportunity for some of our so-called leaders to role model the very real personal benefits of patronage, spurring on a frenzied feeding at the taxpayerfunded trough for the next generation.

There have to be consequences.