THE deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology should have been the government member with the longest title and the shortest job-lifespan. Instead, her political survival is being assisted by incompetence and prevarication.
The South African Police Services may have changed its title, but it still lacks the savvy to know that when you raid the house of a national political figure, you have to put your best face forward. You don’t take a huge horde of heavily armed men along with you, unless you are determined to provide a photo opportunity for those journalists who have been missing the old police- state pictures.
There now appears to be a real possibility that police did not ensure they had the necessary evidence and a flawless search warrant before they set out on this
If this proves to be the case, heads should roll. Not only does it reveal a remarkable level of incompetence, but it has set back the plans to rid the government of the burdensome presence of Winnie Mandela.
Mrs Mandela has become the test for two important principles: the ANC’s commitment to clean and orderly government; and the ability of the new system to treat all citizens equally. If the ANC is unable now to deal with the festering wound that she represents, then there will be a massive loss in the credibility of its anti-corruption and rule-of-law policies.
Admittedly, the heavy-handed police action did not make any easier the task of the government in dealing with this. Public sympathy inevitably shifted to the victim of the police action, and President Mandela had to be seen to let the law run its course.
However, the notion that he cannot act on this matter until a judge has ruled her innocent or guilty is spurious. The president can act on cabinet appointments at any time. He has the full prerogative — and he should use it at that point when the behaviour of one of his office-bearers is causing political damage to the country, the government of national unity and his party. That point has arrived.
Instead, he has handed the matter to that master of political game-playing: the Bobby Fisher of the ANC, deputy president Thabo Mbeki.
Mbeki’s approach is much like that of Lyndon B Johnson, the US president who said he would rather have difficult colleagues “inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in”. Interestingly, LBJ was talking about J Edgar Hoover, whose antics as head of the FBI, after LBJ reappointed him, continued to prove extremely damaging to the US. Johnson may later have had a different view of his strategy, as Mbeki might.
But Mbeki is choosing to play for a draw, rather than show the moral firmness and decisiveness required by his position.
In chess, there is a point at which the middle game becomes the endgame — when a good player must know that he has built up his forces, put them in position, and it is time to strike for the king.
Or in this case, the queen.
* And by the way, if there is talk of ensuring that all citizens are equal before the law, there is another test case. Sun International supremo Sol Kerzner clearly thinks that his advertising clout will ensure that the media forget that he is a man wanted for passing bribes, but this is one paper that won’t easily let it pass. Can Sun International be eligible for new casino licences while Kerzner is a fugitive from