AUCTIONING THE ANC
When you’re under the hammer, dignity and ethics are not luxuries any decent kleptocrat can afford
You can imagine the fun you could have with an ANC auction: a date with Fikile; party swag bags; mothballed “Zuma for President” T-shirts. Sadly, the reality is far more mundane. Wines and memorabilia went under the hammer at the party’s birthday bash last month, along with a seat next to Cyril Ramaphosa at the gala dinner. Hardly the same as hitting the high notes with Fiks, swathed in the best Dolce & Gabbana that a tenderpreneur can buy.
Still, taken together the party made multimilllions for its flagging coffers. It was expecting 144 entries to its golf competition (tickets: R20,000), and you could join Ramaphosa’s fourball for R500,000. About 600 guests were reported to be attending the gala, at a cost of R50,000 a seat. That’s a cool R30m on the dinner, before you’ve even raffled off the president’s dignity.
It’s clear the ANC needs the cash — particularly now that Ramaphosa has told leaders of the Shembe church that the ANC will foot the bill for a 1,000bed building for congregants attending services in Inanda, according to a Sunday Times report. The church had apparently asked the party for the building, along with a “very good speaker system”.
The ANC arrived with a loudhailer and promises.
Oh, and the undertaking that the government will look into the church’s request that the surrounding roads be properly constructed. Touching the taxman for money, in other words, on the ANC’s behalf.
While there, Ramaphosa put in a quick prayer “that our people live in peace and those seeking jobs get them, those who want to study get to do so”. Because a higher power may succeed where the government has failed.
It’s sleight of ham-fisted hand; electioneering thinly veiled as philanthropy. The Shembe church, after all, has millions of members and influential leaders. It’s no small constituency — and one you want on your side. Even if that means spending millions in taxpayers’ money to do so.
If you thought the ANC was synonymous with moral vacuity, its early campaigning is unlikely to disabuse you of that notion. It’s not just the emetic Shembe pay-off; it’s the party’s response to Jacob Zuma playing footsie with the uMkhonto weSizwe
Party (MK Party) too.
As part of its election strategy, it will reportedly
“neutralise” its former president by, first, challenging the MK Party’s registration with the electoral commission and at the high court, and by sending senior leaders on a charm offensive, the Sunday Times reports. Among them is the astoundingly inept police chief Bheki Cele. Last weekend, former health minister Zweli Mkhize was dragged from the desert of disgrace (did anyone say Digital Vibes?) to join the fray. That’s all you need to know about the ANC’s depth of ethical leadership.
Most telling is the party’s plan around Zuma’s (eventual) expulsion. It’s already tried to spin it, telling journalists on Monday that his suspension will “protect and preserve [the party’s] integrity”.
It tallies with the Sunday Times report about the ANC’s election strategy: it’s going to pitch Zuma’s expulsion as the party finally ridding itself of state capture leaders.
Only, that would be to completely overlook those implicated in the state capture report who continue to hold high-ranking positions: mineral resources & energy minister and ANC chair Gwede Mantashe (implicated in alleged Bosasa graft); ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane (Bosasa); sports, arts & culture minister Zizi Kodwa (EOH), and MP and transport committee chair Mosebenzi
Zwane (Vrede dairy project).
The party’s response? They were implicated only in smallanyana graft; Zuma and his cohort “are accused of stealing real money. The other people are nothing, man. It’s small things like fencing, security cameras, braai packs,” a source told the Sunday Times.
So, basically, a party whose current and former leaders are deeply mired in corruption allegations will wash its sins clean by jettisoning Zuma.
Integrity indeed.
Rules schmules
All this comes against the backdrop of the ANC tacking a change on to the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill, gazetted in December, to ensure it gets a larger share of the National Treasury’s election kitty. As City Press reports, the rule was previously that 90% of the pool of funds was awarded to parties based on their representation in the National Assembly; the remaining 10% was divided equally between parties. Apparently facing a constitutional challenge by smaller parties, the ANC voted to amend the law to allow for two-thirds divided on a proportional basis, and one third split evenly between parties. Its magnanimity now evaporated, it’s trying to change the law back to a 9010 split.
The effect, Freedom Front Plus chief whip Corné Mulder told the publication, is that the allocation to smaller parties could effectively be halved, while the ANC would pocket an extra R32m — bringing its grand total to R162m.
That’s a lot of loudhailers.
But let it all sink in for a moment: the party in the dock for being at the forefront of grand-scale looting of the national coffers while dishing out largesse to keep its supporters sweet, now wants a bigger bite of the pie.
Ramaphosa’s unseemly overtures to the Shembe church are symptomatic of a much deeper truth: a party bankrupt of ideas and funds is trying to fleece taxpayers it has ill served for decades, simply to stay in power.