Malversation station

New year, same party [View this email in your browser]( January 12 2022 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, A lapsus linguae is a slip of the tongue. A slip of the pen is called a lapsus calami and an error while using sign language – a slip of the fingers as it were – is a lapsus digitorum. ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe’s conduct on Friday does not fall under any of the above. Speaking at an event in Limpopo, which he hosted with ANC deputy provincial chair [Florence Radzilani]( as part of the ANC’s 110-year anniversary commemoration, Mantashe said the [Zondo report]( should be used to review ANC mistakes and rebuild the organisation. Mantashe added that he was [opposed to the prosecution of leaders of his party]( who have been implicated in the Zondo commission report on state capture. Because of course he is. Mantashe, who appeared before the commission to give his [version of events around upgrades to his homes in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng]( sponsored by Bosasa, which also faced corruption allegations, said the ANC should not use the commission report to “settle scores”. In his 2018 testimony Mantashe denied knowledge that Bosasa had been responsible for the installations, the Mail & Guardian previously reported. Mantashe testified that it never occurred to him that the installation of high-end security cameras at three of his properties, allegedly paid for by Bosasa, could be seen as palm-greasing because he was “not amenable to bribes”. In his testimony before the commission, Mantashe also relied on repeatedly asserting that South Africa’s party political system required loyalty and protection from MPs who must toe the party line, and then proceeded to split political hairs and make misleading statements. “The party contests the election, the party goes to government and that party elects a president in parliament,” testified Mantashe, arguing that any call – through a no-confidence motion – for the ANC to fire its president because the Constitution says this is permissible would be bad advice. “It’s a political issue, it’s not just a superficial technical, legal issue… collapsing your party and thinking you can survive.” As Professor [William Gumede wrote in this week’s issue of this newspaper]( “if the organisational culture of a liberation or independence movement — when in opposition — is soft on corruption in order to safeguard unity, condones using corrupt means to attain political ends and allows those managing organisational finances to do so without accountability, the government such a movement runs when it captures power will very quickly develop a culture of corruption”. “This has been the case for the ANC when it operated as an exile opposition movement: tolerating corruption by certain powerful leaders, not strictly enforcing accountability in the management of funds, discouraging criticism of leaders’ behaviour by ordinary members and fostering a culture of corruption even before the party ascended to power in 1994,” he went on to say. “The organisational culture of political parties also colours the governments they run: determines the kind of people they nominate to become political representatives, the way they make decisions, and the way they manage public finances. In short, the organisational culture of parties that enter government become the administrative culture of the state, whether at national, provincial or municipal level.” And if you’re on the spectrum of anger over how easily citizens will cut corners or grease palms to get things done, understand that the organisational culture of liberation movements are so highly institutionalised that they also replicate themselves in the governments they run, institutionalising the government’s with the party’s organisational culture. Those behaviours will almost certainly be replicated in those they govern. The first part of the Zondo commission’s report was made public last week and contained several key findings, including that the ANC [not only folded its arms and allowed state capture to flourish]( but in some instances proceeds of this form of corruption flowed to its party coffers. Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said there had been time to intervene but either the governing party did not know what to do or could not be bothered to act. Unbidden and unbowed, Mantashe, who late last year tried to [prostrate himself for oil giant Shell to ruin the Wild Coast]( said: “We can use that report to hunt each other down and destroy everything that is in the movement, we can do that. Or we can use that report to look into the mistakes and weaknesses that are in that report and try to correct them. That is a better option for me.” But wait, there’s more. On Friday he told journalists that if the ANC failed to renew itself in the wake of the damning Zondo findings, then the report would not be worth it. “We are the only party that humbled itself and went to the Zondo commission,” he said. “Let me give you an example; the DA is a governing party and it’s running a province and a number of municipalities. “It didn’t go to the commission and I can tell you many of the things that were happening everywhere else were happening in DA areas, but we are the only party that humbled itself and went to the Zondo commission and allowed the commission to cross-examine us,” he said. Basically, everyone was doing it, but hey, at least we showed up to the commission. Surely we’ve been fool-taken for long enough? Until Friday Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? 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