President Jacob Zuma is having at laugh at constitutionally protected institutions.
Have we become so accustomed to our leaders’ refusal to account for their actions that the increasingly reckless attempts to cover President Jacob Zuma’s tracks no longer outrage us?
Our shoulder-shrugging helplessness is fuelling a culture of impunity that could take years to undo.
This week, the defence department withdrew charges against two senior officers, Christine Anderson and Stefan van Zyl, who had been suspended for allowing the unauthorised landing of 200 wedding guests of the Gupta family – Zuma’s cronies – at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in 2013. They testified that Bruce Koloane, former chief of state protocol at the international relations department, told them Zuma had authorised the landing.
If Koloane was telling the truth – and his subsequent treatment strongly suggests he was – the incident reflects Zuma’s view that the state belongs to him. In normal circumstances civilian use of the base would be reserved for VIPs, following a strict diplomatic process. The guests were also initially exempted from normal customs, immigration and security procedures.
After being “demoted”, Koloane was rewarded with an ambassadorial posting to the Netherlands. Government’s own security cluster investigation exonerated the politicians and implicated officials, Koloane included.
The message to the rest of government is that, if state officials are doing the president’s bidding, they will be forgiven any abuse.
Anderson and Van Zyl have announced that they plan to sue the South African National Defence Force, prompting speculation that Zuma will have to take the witness stand. It is a racing certainty that this will not happen, and that scarce public funds will be used to pay the pair off.
The Waterkloof incident is part of an increasingly pervasive pattern in which Zuma is protected by the government and the ruling party at the cost of weakening public institutions and politicising organs of state.
Last year, the public protector recommended that the president repay millions of rands squandered on undue personal benefits during the “security” upgrade at his Nkandla residence. His office and party responded by slandering the protector, a constitutionally protected institution.
ANC MPs and National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete have been prepared to compromise Parliament’s constitutionally mandated role of holding the executive to account in an attempt to protect Zuma from scrutiny. The National Prosecuting Authority, the police, the Hawks, the revenue service, the intelligence services and other state organs are embroiled in bitter factional battles that undermine the criminal justice system and other key state functions. Almost invariably, these reflect moves by Zuma to entrench his allies in key positions and shield his circle.
The risk is that two decades of struggle to move away from a South Africa in which the executive and minority interests reign supreme will have been in vain. The fears and whims of one man cannot be allowed to shatter accountable leadership, the separation of powers, the rule of law and other cornerstones of our democratic state.