Firepool won’t drown the ANC

It should come as no surprise that the ANC has defended former president Jacob Zuma through his various scandals and lied on his behalf.

This happens all over the world and across every political party. Those at the top of the political food chain are always shielded from their wrongdoings.

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So it shouldn’t come as a shock to know that President Cyril Ramaphosa is also being protected from his shenanigans because politics has always been a case of “I scratch your back and you scratch mine”.

This problem cannot be solved by voting the ANC out of power. No matter which political party assumes power, it will lie and defend its leaders at the expense of voters.

Making a noise about what ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has supposedly admitted is not worth it because it’s been public knowledge for years.

On Sunday, Mbalula said the ANC defended Zuma and went as far as upholding the notion in parliament that the Nkandla swimming pool was a “firepool”.

This was after former public protector Thuli Madonsela found in a 2014 report that Zuma should repay some of the money spent on “security measures” at the homestead.

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Among the security measures was a R3.9 million swimming pool which senior ANC members said was a “firepool” that was needed in case of a fire. In similar fashion, ANC MPs were also forced to toe the party line and defend Ramaphosa from possible removal from office in parliament in 2022.

This after an independent panel chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo found that he needed to provide answers on the origin of the money stolen from his private game farm in 2020 and on the efforts to recover it.

The panel, which investigated if Ramaphosa had a case to answer on impeachable misconduct that was tabled by African Transformation Movement leader Vuyo Zungula, said there was substantial doubt about the legitimacy of the source of the dollars stolen from his farm.

But any parliamentary Phala Phala farm forex impeachment proceedings were shot down as ANC members closed ranks.

With 214 votes against the impeachment motion, 148 for and two abstentions, Ramaphosa was protected.

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So this admission by Mbalula will not affect the ANC’s electoral fortunes as many claim because those who have made up their minds to vote for the party will continue to do so.

And those who have decided not to vote for the party, will not change their minds.

Many people expected that Zuma’s scandals would have removed him from the highest office in the land – but they were disappointed. And so it will be for Ramaphosa.

He has a good chance of being re-elected as state president regardless of the ANC risking its credibility by lying for him.

If the ANC has to lose power, lying to protect its presidents is the least of its troubles. The only way the ANC will lose power is based on its successes and failures in government.

Politics in its entirety is riddled with lies and to expect any better from some of the politicians is near impossible.

This is because everyone is looking after their own interests. However, this doesn’t make it right. Political parties and politicians should do better.

They should seek to embody the truth in their characters and their political systems. They should be men and women of integrity because that is the least they can offer to the people who vote for them.

And this can only happen when they start to respect themselves, their oaths of office and the institutions that represent the rule of law.

In so doing, the trust that’s lost between politicians and the public will be restored.