Corruption: The ANC can no longer rely on its history or on slogans to win support.
ANC can’t offer solutions
One of the problems facing the ANC in the 21st century is to acknowledge that although it remains the leader of our society, South Africa is now facing new “teething troubles”. This requires new ideas to generate dialogues driven by a national agenda and a common vision across the racial line.
The ANC’s discussion documents look to me like a repetition of words, with no solutions. In all of these documents the ANC agrees that it must strive to build the national democratic revolution that will liberate Africans and create a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic, united and prosperous nation.
But can the state lead the way to a prosperous nation when its government officials are implicated in corruption?
One finds here that the rhetoric aims at bamboozling the public that the party chosen is the correct one, with sound policies. The hidden agenda is for party members to get elected so that, once in office, they can loot as many resources as they can.
In South Africa right now, we have a sitting president, Jacob Zuma, facing a possible the possible reinstatment of 783 counts of fraud, corruption and money-laundering.
This is the problem facing the ANC: its president, with dubious credentials, is positioned as the centre of power that controls the state and the ruling party. We have seen how powerful the head of a ruling party can be, as evidenced by the expulsion of Julius Malema and other executive members of the ANC Youth League in 2013.
Some were expecting the ANC to fix these problems at its 2017 policy conference, but it didn’t. Central to this gathering was “radical economic transformation”, which is more repetition of words than action. – Sibusiso Ndlovu, journalism lecturer, Damelin
The M&G raised crucial questions
The Mail & Guardian of July 7 was a fascinating read. Madam & Eve raised the questions that have escaped most journalists. How did the thieves know which laptops to take from the Hawks’ offices? And where were the laptops in the Hawks office? The inability to say when the break-in took place is suspicious in itself.
Similarly, Shaun de Waal’s hilarious piece, When the PP hits the crapper, raises a big question. Why would Busisiwe Mkhwebane be investigating this issue when she should be investigating more pressing complaints of corruption and so on? Or why Shaun Abrahams, at the National Prosecuting Authority, is not doing his job. I thought it was to prosecute criminals.
The news analysis article SA journos have more pals than enemies could have another interpretation. Those people speaking out may consider themselves to be next in line for the Black First Land First treatment. Self-preservation is a prime instinct of politicians.
The question to ask is: Who is paying the former MP Andile Mngxitama, because he lost his R80 000 salary? As they say, everyone has their price.
The late Suna Venter paid with her life. And the violators that harassed the SABC 8 are still out there to be hired again.
The suppression of news by the SABC is still going on. I listened to some of the endless hours broadcast from the so-called policy conference and never learnt anything definite until reading the M&G on Friday. – Tom Morgan
Zuma is here for the long haul
The president has said that he is not going to contest the ANC leadership or presidency in December (Jacob Zuma is fast running out of political lives). He knows he is going, so what political lives are you talking about? He also knows that the president of the ANC eventually becomes the president of the country.
So, in January 2018, Zuma will be home at Nkandla resting nicely there. There is no need for you to tell us about him running out of political lives; there is no such. You are the ones who are obsessed about seeing his back. – Mthuliseni David Mtshali, online
■ Commentators have been saying for years that Zuma is going downhill, but he has shown time and again that he is not to be underestimated and understands the inner workings of the ANC and how to use that to his advantage better than most people give him credit for. He has been down, but manages to come out on top or stay where he is.
He was fired as deputy president, then came the Kwezi rape case, 783 corruption charges, Nkandla, poor results in the 2016 polls, the State of Capture report, the firing of Nene and then Gordhan, and junk status. But he still keeps going. Trust me, he is not going anywhere. – Jnrb, online
■ Do we really want to unseat Zuma now? He is not the problem; the ANC is the problem. The ANC created former president Thabo Mbeki with his Aids denialism and his clientocracy (or rule by deployment). Removing Zuma now will propel his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, to power. He’s as smooth an operator as any – smooth enough to keep the ANC cadaver alive for another few years. Rather keep Zuma in place to finish the job of demolishing the monstrous ANC from inside.
Unless, of course, we can get his ludicrous ex-wife to replace him. She’ll finish the job in a month. – Sam van den Berg, online