Government of National Unity a major boon for South Africa and the ANC
The ANC does not have systems in place to cleanse itself. The opposition parties will compel the ANC to cleanse itself as an existential matter or else it will be voted out in 2026. The GNU will be the wake-up call for the ANC.
The Government of National Unity marks the initial step towards South African state recovery and of ANC recovery. It will be the first time in more than 20 years that the ministers, deputy ministers, directors-general of the ministries and board members of state-owned enterprises can be held accountable by members of Parliament and not exclusively by Luthuli House.
Luthuli House failed to hold the ministers, deputy ministers and directors-general accountable, leading to the deterioration of the South African state and government.
State-owned enterprises such as Eskom, Transnet, Prasa, Denel and the Post Office were destroyed, road infrastructure has been left with potholes everywhere, while street lights and traffic lights have been vandalised and sold as scrap. Water treatment plants such as at Hammanskraal and Makhanda in the Eastern Cape have been left in a dire state.
When the ANC had a majority in Parliament with more than 50% of the national vote, ministers and deputy ministers did what they liked instead of what the country needed, without any reprimands from Luthuli House.
Under the Jacob Zuma presidency, this political elite regarded the ANC as being more important than the country.
It was a disgrace.
The Ministry of Home Affairs became so corrupt with copies of our IDs and passports being sold to illegal immigrants that the UK government in 2018 decided to demand visas from South African citizens after it was discovered that Al Qaeda operatives were using South African passports. The people who bombed US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on 7 August 1998 used South African passports.
Under Malusi Gigaba as former home affairs minister and former minister of public enterprises, the Gupta family got SA passports before the minimum statutory five years required. Luthuli House blessed this and saw nothing wrong. The more you did wrong, the higher you were promoted in the ANC and government.
State Capture corruption, ANC assassins
The State Capture inquiry revealed that 94 ANC officials were implicated in the feeding troughs of the Guptas and Watsons, and Luthuli House saw nothing wrong in this. Instead, it promoted some and kept them in ministerial posts, such as Gwede Mantashe, the former secretary-general of the ANC during the time of the Guptas and Watsons.
Mantashe is the man who watched Zuma destroy the ANC. As a member of the central committee of the SACP when all this was happening, one wonders about the standards of integrity in such a Communist Party.
Malusi Gigaba has left a trail of corruption everywhere. As Public Enterprises Minister, he appointed Siyabonga Gama as CEO of Transnet to replace outgoing Brian Molefe. He also appointed Molefe as the CEO of Eskom and oversaw the decline of PetroSA, Denel, and so on.
All the state-owned enterprises declined under Gigaba, with Luthuli House’s endorsement.
Luthuli House failed to protect the ANC, almost as if it was working to kill the ANC. All those who were doing wrong were promoted to higher office. Luthuli House under Zuma went out to recruit one million members without credible induction methods or courses, and with no proper probation period.
The ANC ended up with more than a million members who understood very little about the ANC except to vote for respective slates and factions at conferences. Some of these new members specialised in howling down comrades at branch general meetings and shouting slogans at the tops of their voices.
In some ANC structures such as Newcastle in KZN, municipal councils hired professional assassins known as Izinkabi, as stated by former president Thabo Mbeki in an interview before the 2021 municipal elections.
This is not the ANC of Chief Albert Luthuli, OR Tambo and Nelson Mandela, this ANC that hires assassins to kill political opponents instead of having constructive debates and discussions.
GNU’s responsibilities
The performance of the Government of National Unity will not depend on Luthuli House standards. Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance, Velenkosi Hlabisa of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Gayton McKenzie of the Patriotic Front and Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus – all have responsibilities to make sure the South African state functions professionally and not as a fiefdom of a faction at Luthuli House.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile from the ANC will have to pull up their socks to administer and lead ministers from different political parties who are not following the democratic centralism procedures of the ANC.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen will be keen to outperform other ministers to place the DA on a higher pedestal, all in preparation for the next municipal elections in 2026. Minister Steenhuisen is responsible for food security and has launched a forensic audit into the R500-million Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) project in a suspected corruption case. Steenhuisen replaced Thoko Didiza, who is now the speaker of the National Assembly.
The flamboyant Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, has replaced Zizi Kodwa who is facing corruption charges. Minister McKenzie has already ruffled feathers by publishing a list of artists who benefited from Covid-19 funds.
Pieter Groenewald was appointed the Minister of Correctional Services, and he is deputised by Lindiwe Ntshalintshali. Under Minister Groenewald, the department conducted raids at the Johannesburg Correctional Service Centre, also known as Sun City prison, which led to the discovery of a significant amount of contraband, including cellphones, laptops, TVs, PlayStations and other prohibited electronics, as well as makeup and sex toys.
Minister Groenewald is planning to visit the privately run Mangaung Prison from which Thabo Bester miraculously escaped. Maybe Groenewald has what it takes to clean up the prisons.
Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber is already investigating the sale of South African passports and visas in Dubai. He has his hands full, having probably the most corrupt ministry in the country. With illegal immigrants, porous borders and the selling of SA identity documents and passports, his plate is piled high. This is one of the ministries that will decide the fate of South Africa.
Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu has taken over from Bheki Cele while crime surges in South Africa – with murder, assault and vandalism getting worse. Can Mchunu succeed where Cele failed?
Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube has the toughest assignment. She must get rid of illiteracy in her five-year term. The children in Grade 4 must be in a position to read and write in their mother tongue or at least in one language. Can she achieve that? When will our children match the BRICS educational standards? Can we match the education standards of China, India, Russia and Brazil?
All the new ministers have an opportunity to perform and impress the citizens and would-be voters in 2026. Even ANC ministers have a chance to show what they are capable of when competing with other ministers from the opposition parties. Good performance by the respective ministers will be good for the country.
Opportunity to serve – and impress voters
Every South African political party has an opportunity to serve and impress the voters before the next municipal elections in 2026.
The ANC does not have systems in place to cleanse itself. The opposition parties will compel the ANC to cleanse itself as an existential matter or else it will be voted out in 2026. The Government of National Unity will be the wake-up call for the ANC.
President Ramaphosa himself lacks the will and the courage to act against corruption, which is why he kept those implicated in the State Capture inquiry and those implicated in the VBS Bank heist on the candidate lists before the May 2024 general elections.
The Government of National Unity will compel him to act against wrongdoing. The timid excuses he would normally give to his colleagues at Luthuli House will not cut it for John Steenhuisen, Helen Zille, Velenkosini Hlabisa, Gayton McKenzie and Pieter Groenewald – just to name a few in the GNU.
At last there is a possibility of hope for South Africa
This article originally appeared on the Daily Maverick