The Southern Tip» corruption

Jacob Zuma’s Ndebele Headache

Tony — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:21:21 +0000

And no, it’s not a Zimbabwean¹ headache. Although Jacob Zuma is sure to be getting a few of those over the next five years. It is much closer to home. Sb’u Ndebele, the new Minister of Transport, and his brand new Mercedes Benz (and a couple of other things like a plasma television and two head of cattle) is the issue this time.

“… and how Jacob Zuma handles the situation will set the tone around graft, corruption and gifts of gratitude for the rest of his term of office …”

Sb’u Ndebele, by all accounts, did a wonderful job of fostering the creation of small businesses in KwaZulu Natal. It was all part of Vukuzakhe, the Emerging Contractors Development Programme. And the contractors wanted to thank him for turning some of them into millionaires.

Obviously, Sb’u Ndebele, would like to keep such a wonderful expression of gratitude. But even though he says there is no conflict of interest, he is not sure about the protocols involved and has shuffled the decision to his boss. Why he couldn’t make the decision himself says a lot about where government ministers minds are on the issue of corruption. If this was seen by him as corrupt the answer was easy. A simple yes or no was all that was required, and then live with the consequences (including the car and cattle) if he chose wrong,

He has now made his issue Jacob Zuma’s issue, and how Jacob Zuma handles the situation will set the tone around graft, corruption and gifts of gratitude for the rest of his term of office.

If Jacob Zuma allows Sb’u Ndebele to keep the car he is implicitly supporting corruption and graft. Firstly, he is seemingly flying in the face of a Cabinet code of ethics rule. Secondly, he is re-enforcing the perception (no conviction is a perception, Mrs Zille) that he is corrupt and that he tolerates corruption from his comrades. Thirdly, every election promise would have to be seen in the light of reneging on one of the biggest promises made, so soon after taking office; in other words, Jacob Zuma is not to be trusted.

Left or Right? High road or low road? (Mateusz Atroszko)

If, on the other hand, Jacob Zuma refuses Sb’u Ndebele permission to keep the car (or advises against keeping it if there is no permission issue) he is putting himself and his cabinet on the moral high road. The message is then very clear: this administration will not tolerate corruption of any sort, by anyone, even that which is seemingly borderline. It also helps to put Zuma’s own corruption tainted history behind him and blow away a few of the clouds hanging over his head. And the opposition, which in this case includes his allies at COSATU, will have to concede that the right thing has been done.

A lot hinges on this decision for Jacob Zuma. Let’s hope, for his sake and the country’s, that he makes the correct one. Unfortunately for Sb’u Ndebele, the future vision should not include he or his wife driving around in a new Mercedes.

¹ For our foreign readers, the Ndebele are a people of Northern South Africa and Southern Zimbabwe. Links compliments of Wikipedia.

Political Mudslinging

Tony — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:48:46 +0000

It's a Dirty Game, is Politics (Shannon Pifko)

The first day of April and that means? Not here. We aim to be serious most of the time. The politics of elections go on and it is the politicians that look more like fools every day. I don’t think that there is a single thing they won’t say to try and win that vote.

It is too easy to blame the ANC (African National Congress) for corruption, etc. or to blame the DA (Democratic Alliance) for being a white party (and therefore racist), or Cope (Congress of the People) for being disorganised and a watered down version of the ANC. And these are calls that are being made from all sides of the political landscape. Discussions between both party officials, and especially, party supporters, easily get off-track and end up in name calling. A wander around any number of online chat rooms and blog comment lists show how personal and deeply emotional the debate can get. Any semblance of civilised discussion, a comparison of competing policies and promotion of achievements gets lost in a pile of acrimony, finger-pointing and finally boasting and comparing certain parts of the male anatomy.

It seems that policy gets lost very quickly when power touches it. Even quicker when emotion is stacked up alongside the policy. It stands no chance then. It is quite sad that the breadth of policy and conscience is reduced to a simple binary selection – should I vote for this party or that? And that choice is emotional.

Corruption is Bad!

Tony — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:55:16 +0000

Money for the Taking (John Gardiner)

Corruption has been the subject of plenty of columns and blogs over the last couple of months. Dinner tables and university campuses have heard the sounds of peoples voices debating the merits of their non-corrupt leader. And yet through all of this they my have even agreed on one thing … corruption is BAD. As long as it is when you are corrupt. Me? Corrupt? Never!

The other indisputable fact is that corruption is here to stay. Anywhere and everywhere in this world. Wherever you have money and power it is a absolute fact that corruption will follow. It is a troika that is as old as humankind. And the size power reflects the size of the corruption.

What separates different societies from one another is their response to corruption. Do we condone it, ignore it and hope that it goes away; while we take advantage to the best of our considerable corrupted talent. Or do we fight it and root it out and limit the damage it does to our society.

In South Africa, so far, it seems that we have taken the first, bad, road. Turning this back is something that can only be driven from the ground up. If we don’t tolerate it ourselves then we won’t tolerate corruption from our leaders. We cannot expect this clean-up process to be driven by those who have the power or money. There is no (very little) incentive for them to call for the end of corruption.