JUST as important as the contents of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report into the R246m government spending on President Jacob Zuma’s private home at Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal is the manner in which the African National Congress (ANC), Zuma himself and the Parliament they control proceed from here on.
The findings are damning and the matter has so disgusted many members of the public that it has become emblematic of how politicians and sycophantic public servants play fast and loose with public money.
Madonsela has found that Zuma benefited materially and undeservedly from extensive upgrades to his private home. She has recommended that he repay some of these undue benefits and that he must explain himself to Parliament.
In releasing its own report on the matter, the government had done what no sane constitutional order does — investigate itself and also sit in judgment over its own cause.
It sought, unsuccessfully, to deflect blame to expendable public servants and inconsequential junior politicians.
Since then, various ANC leaders, led by secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, have repeatedly cast aspersions on Madonsela’s integrity, accusing her of having a political agenda, which they have failed to define. This chorus is increasingly being repeated by supporters of the party as the election campaign gains momentum.
These dishonest attacks on the public protector have very grave implications for the future of the rule of law in South Africa and, to a significant extent, the very sustainability of South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
Attacks by senior politicians on an institution such as the public protector become a clear instruction to ordinary supporters to undermine them, to disregard their work and ensure many more people in society see them as an enemy.
To properly understand where we are, we need to look at the state of the triumvirate of institutions upon which the rule of law rests in South Africa. While the judiciary remains largely intact, the same cannot be said of the National Prosecuting Authority and the police.
They have lost credibility and no longer provide any sense of security to ordinary citizens. Their parlous state is part of the reason the public protector has gained so much prominence and occupied a position of trust in the public consciousness.
The attacks that will be directed at her in the coming days and weeks will serve only one purpose — to destroy public confidence in her office. When this has been achieved, there will be very little left between the public purse and those who seek to loot it for their own purposes. It will be a free for all.
Dominated by the ANC, Parliament has long lost its bite and credibility, and has in recent years been used as a rubber stamp for some of the most unconscionable decisions ever carried out by the executive branch. Aside from turning debates that should have been used to include and inform the South African public on the actions of its government, it also approved the wrongful dismissal of Vusi Pikoli as national director of public prosecutions.
There are those who are already hailing Madonsela’s report as a wonderful advertisement for South Africa’s democracy and its institutions. They are wrong.
Instead, it is the beginning of a new chapter that will entail the destruction of one of the last lines of defence against the avarice that permeates so many sections of society today. It is the tipping point beyond which citizens can no longer outsource their vigilance to the likes of Madonsela, whose term is due to expire soon in any case.
Nonetheless, the public has a justifiable expectation that Parliament will seek answers from the country’s top citizen, and that it shall take the necessary actions to ensure that the interests of citizens are protected. We shall have to wait and see if there will be admonishment of a president who appears to have sought to derive maximum benefit from his already well-paid job, or whether they will once again do what they do best, and that is to defend him regardless of the facts or public sentiment.
However, before the matter goes to Parliament or anywhere else, Zuma has to take the South African public into his confidence and explain why, at best, he appears to have forgotten that he is the ultimate custodian of public finances. He has to tell us why it never occurred to him to ask about the extent of the expense, in his own home and in his name, that was being incurred with public money for his personal security and comfort.
Regardless of what the Zuma administration, his political party and Parliament do or do not do, this report calls for a profound moment of reflection. It is opportune to recall that just four months ago, the country laid the iconic Nelson Mandela to rest.
In eulogising him, prominent and ordinary people alike spoke of preserving and emulating his towering moral legacy. Now is the time to finally decide whether, long before Madiba’s bones have dried, they will turn back on their word or try to live up to it.
The steps that get taken next, and the extent to which they are sincere and transparent, will be the first indications of whether the country’s moral compass will be recovered or lost for good. This is the moment when the country will decide whether it chooses anarchy over the rule of law. The precedents established in the past seven years do not hold out much hope, but the reflection is nonetheless necessary.
South Africa stands at a precipice of its own making. Not only are the streets aflame with angry, poor people, but the state’s own ability to turn the situation around is severely weakened. What the country needs more than the grand plans it continuously devised to prolong people’s sense of hope is the return of credibility to leadership.
The country needs credible voices in the highest echelons of power to marshal an increasingly desperate people to be patient for just a little longer. This is in the knowledge that they are saving every penny for all the effort required to help them out of poverty and inequality.
Instead, what the country has seen is a government that is willing to divert enormous amounts of public money to ensure the undeserved comforts of its president.
It now falls on Parliament to show the rest of the country which way the country will go. If it exercises its constitutionally mandated fiduciary duties and holds Zuma and his ministers accountable, it will have done an enormous service to the country.
If it chooses to insult the public and protect those who abuse public trust and funds, it will have made a decision from which the country is unlikely to ever recover.
The slogans and platitudes that pay homage to great legends and heroes, in the final reckoning, are nothing but odes on the lips of fools if we cannot follow them up with the tough actions that preserve great legacies and make nations great.
• Zibi is senior associate editor at the Financial Mail.
President Jacob Zuma's residence in Nkandla. Picture: SOWETAN/SUNDAY WORLD
JUST as important as the contents of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report into the R246m government spending on President Jacob Zuma’s private home at Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal is the manner in which the African National Congress (ANC), Zuma himself and the Parliament they control proceed from here on.
The findings are damning and the matter has so disgusted many members of the public that it has become emblematic of how politicians and sycophantic public servants play fast and loose with public money.
Madonsela has found that Zuma benefited materially and undeservedly from extensive upgrades to his private home. She has recommended that he repay some of these undue benefits and that he must explain himself to Parliament.
In releasing its own report on the matter, the government had done what no sane constitutional order does — investigate itself and also sit in judgment over its own cause.
It sought, unsuccessfully, to deflect blame to expendable public servants and inconsequential junior politicians.
Since then, various ANC leaders, led by secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, have repeatedly cast aspersions on Madonsela’s integrity, accusing her of having a political agenda, which they have failed to define. This chorus is increasingly being repeated by supporters of the party as the election campaign gains momentum.
These dishonest attacks on the public protector have very grave implications for the future of the rule of law in South Africa and, to a significant extent, the very sustainability of South Africa’s constitutional democracy.
Attacks by senior politicians on an institution such as the public protector become a clear instruction to ordinary supporters to undermine them, to disregard their work and ensure many more people in society see them as an enemy.
To properly understand where we are, we need to look at the state of the triumvirate of institutions upon which the rule of law rests in South Africa. While the judiciary remains largely intact, the same cannot be said of the National Prosecuting Authority and the police.
They have lost credibility and no longer provide any sense of security to ordinary citizens. Their parlous state is part of the reason the public protector has gained so much prominence and occupied a position of trust in the public consciousness.
The attacks that will be directed at her in the coming days and weeks will serve only one purpose — to destroy public confidence in her office. When this has been achieved, there will be very little left between the public purse and those who seek to loot it for their own purposes. It will be a free for all.
Dominated by the ANC, Parliament has long lost its bite and credibility, and has in recent years been used as a rubber stamp for some of the most unconscionable decisions ever carried out by the executive branch. Aside from turning debates that should have been used to include and inform the South African public on the actions of its government, it also approved the wrongful dismissal of Vusi Pikoli as national director of public prosecutions.
There are those who are already hailing Madonsela’s report as a wonderful advertisement for South Africa’s democracy and its institutions. They are wrong.
Instead, it is the beginning of a new chapter that will entail the destruction of one of the last lines of defence against the avarice that permeates so many sections of society today. It is the tipping point beyond which citizens can no longer outsource their vigilance to the likes of Madonsela, whose term is due to expire soon in any case.
Nonetheless, the public has a justifiable expectation that Parliament will seek answers from the country’s top citizen, and that it shall take the necessary actions to ensure that the interests of citizens are protected. We shall have to wait and see if there will be admonishment of a president who appears to have sought to derive maximum benefit from his already well-paid job, or whether they will once again do what they do best, and that is to defend him regardless of the facts or public sentiment.
However, before the matter goes to Parliament or anywhere else, Zuma has to take the South African public into his confidence and explain why, at best, he appears to have forgotten that he is the ultimate custodian of public finances. He has to tell us why it never occurred to him to ask about the extent of the expense, in his own home and in his name, that was being incurred with public money for his personal security and comfort.
Regardless of what the Zuma administration, his political party and Parliament do or do not do, this report calls for a profound moment of reflection. It is opportune to recall that just four months ago, the country laid the iconic Nelson Mandela to rest.
In eulogising him, prominent and ordinary people alike spoke of preserving and emulating his towering moral legacy. Now is the time to finally decide whether, long before Madiba’s bones have dried, they will turn back on their word or try to live up to it.
The steps that get taken next, and the extent to which they are sincere and transparent, will be the first indications of whether the country’s moral compass will be recovered or lost for good. This is the moment when the country will decide whether it chooses anarchy over the rule of law. The precedents established in the past seven years do not hold out much hope, but the reflection is nonetheless necessary.
South Africa stands at a precipice of its own making. Not only are the streets aflame with angry, poor people, but the state’s own ability to turn the situation around is severely weakened. What the country needs more than the grand plans it continuously devised to prolong people’s sense of hope is the return of credibility to leadership.
The country needs credible voices in the highest echelons of power to marshal an increasingly desperate people to be patient for just a little longer. This is in the knowledge that they are saving every penny for all the effort required to help them out of poverty and inequality.
Instead, what the country has seen is a government that is willing to divert enormous amounts of public money to ensure the undeserved comforts of its president.
It now falls on Parliament to show the rest of the country which way the country will go. If it exercises its constitutionally mandated fiduciary duties and holds Zuma and his ministers accountable, it will have done an enormous service to the country.
If it chooses to insult the public and protect those who abuse public trust and funds, it will have made a decision from which the country is unlikely to ever recover.
The slogans and platitudes that pay homage to great legends and heroes, in the final reckoning, are nothing but odes on the lips of fools if we cannot follow them up with the tough actions that preserve great legacies and make nations great.
• Zibi is senior associate editor at the Financial Mail.
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