ANC top dogs all dogged by scandals

It looks like a fierce political battle – former president Jacob Zuma; Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma; President Cyril Ramaphosa; ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile; and former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize – all running to be elected to key leadership positions in the ANC national elective conference in December.

Yet, the candidates have quite a bit in common – all being dogged by scandals, lacking integrity, vision, inspiration and good decision-making… attribute that have become synonymous with the ANC leadership of today.

With this trajectory marking no departure from decades of the ANC’s poor governance record, we can only expect more of the same after the conference.

The same faces in the top echelons and recycling of the same conference resolutions mean, whatever happens, implementation will be lacking.

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Fingered for having led SA to the current socio-economic quagmire – dysfunctional state-owned enterprises, handed on a plate to the infamous Gupta family who siphoned billions out these shores – Zuma has lifted his hand to be elected party national chair.

A bleeding Eskom that has brought us blackouts and an SA Airways struggling to survive are just some of the costly blunders Zuma and his associates should take full responsibility for.

The uninspiring Dlamini-Zuma has emerged as yet another presidential prospect – a campaign driven and blessed by Zuma, her former husband. Set to retain the position of ANC president, Ramaphosa to whom many had pinned much of their hopes – a breath of fresh air, compared to the Zuma era – has not only failed dismally on his Thuma Mina (send me) promise but proven to share some common traits with his comrades.

Ramaphosa has proven to be one of the most indecisive presidents the ANC has ever produced who has found it difficult to fire inefficient ministers, worried about a backlash within his party.

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His inability to provide effective leadership has seen the ANC unable to effectively address pressing challenges. Under his watch, we have seen a fast-declining economy and a faction-ridden ANC, whose leaders have put their personal interests above the people who voted them into power.

As a champion of clean governance – championing a fight against corruption – he has been unable to come clean on the Phala Phala saga, involving the theft of millions from his game farm.

Hoping to become SA’s next deputy president should the ANC win the 2024 polls, Mashatile has lifted his hand to be elected to the number two position.

He’s known for being “the boss of Alex” and an ineffective treasurer-general, un- der whose leadership ANC staffers have spent months without being paid their salaries. Tainted by the Digital Vibes scandal and the contravention of the Public Finance Management Act at the height of the Covid pandemic, embattled Mkhize wants to challenge Ramaphosa for the number one position.

He has lately missed no opportunity in the public domain to push a narrative that he played no part in influencing the awarding of the lucrative Digital Vibes deal to his cronies. The more things change, the more they stay the same in the ANC.

It is a party that rewards inefficiency, corruption and state capture with voters continuing to bring it back to power.