Apartheid was essentially about exploitation; autocratic rule by a so-called “elite” who used the mechanism of racism to kept themselves in power while guzzling piggishly at the fat of the land. The removal of that virus of racial oligarchy is what the people of South Africa of all races, religions, creeds and sexual orientations thought they had achieved when they elected the country’s first majority rule government in 1994. Two incidents over the last week cast worrying shadows over that achievement.
The first incident was the extraordinary attempt by a clutch (can a collective noun ever have been so apt?) of executive directors at New Africa Investments Limited (Nail), the so- called black empowerment corporation, to enrich themselves by some R136-million at the expense of shareholders. The resolution, which was to have been brought before Nail’s annual general meeting this week, was withdrawn at the last minute, but not before the intention had betrayed the frame of mind which characterises a new, if familiar, elite under which this country is beginning to suffer.
The ins and outs of share option schemes are complex, and are examined in other sections of this edition of the newspaper. But in the end the Nail controversy boils down to one simple question which this week must have been on the lips of many an ordinary citizen unversed in the intricacies of low finance, but not lacking in common sense: how does the chair of the SABC walk out of his job as a public servant and, within a year, stand to earn himself R34-million from a public company’s share option scheme ?
Zwelakhe Sisulu is one of four executive directors of Nail who stood to benefit from the scheme – the others being Jonty Sandler, Nthato Motlana and Dikgang Moseneke. It is worth focusing on Sisulu, partly because of the considerable role he played in the freedom struggle.
Why did this scion of the much-respected Sisulu family get that invitation to join the ranks of the world’s (rand, dollar and pound) multimillionaires so soon after leaving public service?
The award was not related to the performance of Nail, most financial commentators are agreed, because that company has not been performing very well. Moseneke has been widely quoted as saying that the options were offered in 1997 as an incentive to “go beyond the call of duty” in helping Nail. But Sisulu only stood down as chief executive of the SABC last year.
Of course Nail does control the television production company Urban Brew, a subsidiary which completely outstripped its competitors in obtaining production contracts from the SABC last year. But we can assume that Moseneke’s reference to rewards for going “beyond the call of duty” do not refer to Sisulu’s duties as head of the national broadcaster, if only because, when the Mail & Guardian reported suspicions in the television industry at a possible linkage between Sisulu, Nail and Urban Brew’s burgeoning success where the SABC was concerned, the company issued a writ for R850 000 damages against us.
It is, perhaps, not without coincidence that it is to the SABC itself we turn for the second instance of activities by a new, self-appointed elite – with the de facto firing (“termination of contract”, the corporation’s lawyers would no doubt protest) of Special Assignment’s editor Max du Preez.
It is hardly worth rehearsing the career of Du Preez – considering that he is one of the country’s best-known broadcasters – except to say he stands among the finest journalists this country has produced and he is one to whom the nation owes a debt of gratitude it is never likely to discharge.
We will not agonise with the SABC hierarchy over the question as to whether, or not he used the “F” word (“fuck”, in common parlance) three months ago during a heated exchange in the newsroom. Nor will we go into which of the cast of characters involved in his firing took exception to his lack of respect – whether it was the fall-down drunk, an apartheid-era patsy (we have a couple in mind), or the former chief reporter of a Stalinist-inclined, government- controlled Bulgarian newspaper in the Soviet era.
Instead, it suffices to say that the sacking of Du Preez reflects the casual abuse of a public mandate, born of overweening arrogance, to which we are quickly becoming accustomed where the powers-that-be at the SABC are concerned.
Nail and the SABC; the symbiosis is inescapable even without the linkage provided by Sisulu. The giant corporation dedicated to black empowerment and the broadcaster established to safeguard national interests. Executives at both have shown, this week past, their willingness to betray a public trust.
“Comic” is how we would characterise these morality tales. They demonstrate to our shame how, when presented with the opportunity for self-enrichment and self-aggrandisement at the troughs of power, all men are indeed equal in their piggishness.
If HF Verwoerd, BJ Vorster and other fat cats of yesteryear are turning in their graves it is only because in that confined space it is difficult to fall down with laughter.