What’s Mmusi got to do with it? – BOSA jumping on De Ruyter bandwagon in quest for relevance

Political analysts have told The Citizen, Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane opening a criminal case over former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter‘s looting allegations at the parastatal is nothing more than a pr stunt to build support for his group.

Maimane laid a complaint at the Cape Town Police Station on Monday, in connection with reported widespread looting at Eskom.

He wants to compel authorities to get De Ruyter to share the details of allegations he made against senior ministers and others allegedly privy to the corruption at the crumbling state-owned power utility.

Maimane signed an affidavit saying he had opened the case to initiate the “swift” investigation and imprisonment of “looters”.

PR stunt

However, analysts said Maimane’s action is basically a public relations stunt to gather support for his group.

North West University Professor André Duvenhage told The Citizen, Maimane lost a lot of “political momentum”.

“That momentum was stolen by ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance (DA) which is rebounded into stronger support. The Mmusi Maimane group in a way has become irrelevant and of little significance for the political process.”

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Garnering support

Duvenhage said Maimane used the Eskom “looting” scandal as an opportunity to grasp support and get onto the so called “wave”.

“Here is an opportunity to take a case that is strong. I think De Ruyter has a lot of substance in what he has said… But there is a lot of political capital that Mmusi Maimane can gain from this. So he’s riding a wave in order to be part of a bigger system.

“Because there is a lot of momentum at the moment as a result of the De Ruyter thing,” Duvenhage said.

Duvenhage added that with the national elections looming, Maimane is lapping up support.

“We are about a year and a few months away from a national election, ANC support is, according to all indications at its lowest level since 1994. So, for him (Maimane) and the survival of his group, this is critical to make a statement, to come on the agenda and to be on the right side of that agenda.”

Bosa agenda

Another political analyst Sanusha Naidoo, Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Global Dialogue, told The Citizen Maimane laying a criminal case plays very much into his group’s agenda.

“I think it plays very much into the dynamics of where he sees this Build One South Africa movement going in terms of a political entity, an organisation that has now moved beyond just the civil society consolidation and the strengthening of civic participation and democratic participation. So, its now moving to the next stage.”

“I think Mr Maimane is going to contest next year’s election as Build One South Africa and on the basis of that – you can get the sense that the anti-corruption question or and the anti-corruption ticket is going to be very high on that kind of electoral platform for him.

“The sense I get is that this is now the start of how he is going to build his electoral campaign. He’s been very vocal in the run-up to the local government election where in terms of their building capacity and developing capable governance,” Naidoo said.

Naidoo said South Africa reached a new point in its democracy.

“We’ve reached a point in our democracy where everything has to be litigated. It’s a judicial democracy where courts are determining the pathway of our democracy, so you see this democracy constantly being in court,” Naidoo added.

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