How the hell can we believe you, ANC?

Many South Africans would take what the ANC says about corruption with a large pinch of salt. But, the cynics might say that’s not possible, because the way the ANC operates, the salt has already been pinched …

Seriously, though, who can take the ruling party seriously when it says – as Presidency Minister Jackson Mthembu did – that it “means it” when it says it will rid its ranks of corruption and bring those involved to book. If the ANC’s words were bricks and mortar, everybody in this country, and most of the rest of Africa, would all have roofs over their heads.

There is now another “new unit” – the “fusion centre” (appropriate because if you add “con”, the ANC comrades’ modus operandi, you get “confusion”) – which will, so the promise goes, combine all the country’s investigative units to get arrests and convictions.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says it is not up to him to make the arrests, it is for the investigators to do so. However, allowing suspects to continue to serve in government positions – as is the case with former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede – is something you can do something about, sir, if you mean what you say about corruption.

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