If the Sarafina II affair was just about some R10- million, it would have blown over pretty quickly. Just as if the Bantu Holomisa affair was only about the conduct of one maverick politician, it would not have caused such a ruckus. What, then, is going on?
Certainly, these events demonstrate the government’s inability to deal with the public and the media on controversial matters. In the case of Sarafina II in particular, the most basic public relations advice would have been to get Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma to admit there had been errors, drop her haughtiness, not get involved in any shenanigans around mysterious donors, and shift attention to the other achievements of her department.
Instead, the matter has been dragged out for months, and it has done irreparable damage to Zuma and her government.
In the case of Holomisa, the African National Congress has so over-reacted to his proclivity for shooting his mouth off that it has ensured he provides it with a long-term headache. He is, after all, one of the most popular ANC leaders — and the shrill sound of, for example, Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale denouncing him in the ugliest of terms only keeps the issue alive with the sense that Sexwale protests a little too much.
Now the president would have us believe that this is all some mysterious plot by drug companies to discredit Zuma. If that is the case, we must ask why the president has allowed Zuma to give her enemies such rich ammunition. In this affair, she has done much more damage to herself than anything her enemies would dream of doing.
But the matter of real concern is that the Sarafina II and Holomisa affairs together epitomise a tendency in the ANC to put party loyalty and protection of its leadership above issues of good governance and the need to fight corruption and mismanagement.
With Zuma, the government has rushed to protect her against criticism, and been unwilling to admit there has been a waste of money and poor management of a most important project.
In the case of Holomisa, it has chosen to focus on him and his conduct, rather than on his very serious allegations – —and prima facie evidence — of corruption. A president who secretly takes money from a businessman wanted for bribery, and who hides it from his own colleagues, should be the subject of censure, rather than the person who revealed it.
And we still have the ludicrous situation that the accused businessman has never been charged, and we have a Cabinet minister who admits to having taken R50 000 of his money, but the most severe action has been taken against their accusers, and against another party member who allowed Holomisa to address an ANC rally.
There is no issue more important to the future of this country than achieving good governance, and overcoming the practices of profligacy and corruption inherited from the National Party. We would venture to say it is a more important issue than the one dominating everyone’s minds at the moment — crime. Because if you don’t clean up the police force and justice system, the fight against criminals is lost before you start. And if you don’t reduce the habit of enormous waste in government spending, we are doomed to live with budget deficits and shortfalls in delivery on social reform.
Certainly, the ANC government began by creating many of the institutions and policies needed to achieve better governance: a public protector, a human rights commission, a policy of transparency and accountability … the list is a long one. But the practice has not lived up to the promise.
Repeatedly, the government has failed to give the fight against corruption and mismanagement a high enough priority, and too often it has been sacrificed to short-term party interests. Good governance has become less important than ANC governance.
Take the case of Free State Premier Terror Lekota. Rather than back him in a fight against corruption, the ANC leadership forced him to accommodate those he accused for the sake of party unity. It was an abysmal confusion of priorities.
And just this week, an unlicensed AK-47 was found in the house of provincial MEC Dan Mofokeng. As part of a government which has proclaimed a high priority on fighting criminal violence and lawlessness, Mofokeng has some explaining to do. Otherwise it will provide another important test of the ANC’s willingness to deal firmly with those in its own ranks who don’t live up to public expectations.
Let’s hope Mofokeng and the ANC pass this test better than they have other recent ones.