Selfless struggle? Pule Mabe and the ANC’s luxury obsession

Living in a R35 million house and driving a Bentley (and a Porsche), former ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe epitomises the hypocrisy of the “selfless struggle”.

Such ostentation doesn’t make Mabe stand out from the in-crowd. Comrades have been living like this for decades. To mark its centenary celebrations in 2012, the ANC paraded Mercedes-Benzes bearing the slogan “100 years of selfless struggle”.

Indeed, there was no outcry from the party hierarchy when, in 2004, another ANC spokesperson, Smuts Ngonyama, declared: “I did not join the struggle to be poor”.

Ngonyama was defending his R160 million stake in a Telkom BEE share scheme. In 2006, he was listed as one of five members of the ANC national executive committee who had amassed R1.5 billion between them.

Others were Saki Macozoma, Cyril Ramaphosa, Popo Molefe and Mohammed Valli Moosa – “dubbed the usual suspects, because they feature in so many BEE deals”.

To list all big-time BEE beneficiaries would fill more space than is allowed for this column. The point here is to show that Mabe’s get-richquick mentality is not an exception. It’s the way the ANC rolls.

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Many – including the once underfinanced Jacob Zuma – did not benefit so handsomely from early BEE deals. But they saw what was happening around them. Unearned wealth was being bestowed.

Envy and an attitude of “our time to eat” are understandable, even if inexcusable.

Whether there is a causal link between BEE and criminally liable corruption may be worthy of academic research. However, there is a common denominator; the perception that you don’t have to work or add material value to an organisation in order to benefit on a grand scale.

Beneficiaries won’t agree but there is something deeply unjust when BEE disproportionately favours the already empowered, many of whom flaunt their new riches in the world’s most unequal society.

Too many schools still have pit toilets. Informal settlements multiply, cities crumble and hunger stalks the land. And selfless strugglers grab what they can.

Mabe faces charges of corruption, fraud and theft involving a R27 million tender. Given the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) track record, the nation is not expecting conviction and sentence.

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Earlier this month, charges against former sports minister Zizi Kodwa were dropped, without satisfactory explanation. Not one big fish has been fried.

Appearing defeatist, NPA boss Shamila Batohi says we cannot prosecute our way out of corruption. Instead, she calls for “a fundamental shift in how the country tackles corruption, emphasising the need for ethical leadership and systemic reform”.

These pleas are feeble against selfless strugglers. The words have as much value as the ANC’s oxymoronic integrity commission.

Properly conducted lifestyle audits should, in theory, uncover Bentleys, Porches and homes way beyond what stated earnings could afford.

In the new dawn of 2018, Ramaphosa pledged lifestyle audits for Cabinet members. He made the same promise again this year, without visible results.

There’s no telling whether Deputy President Paul Mashatile will ever be charged or whether, for example, the much-maligned Alex Mafia will be brought to book. The only way to get rid of ANC corruption is to further loosen the party’s grip on political power.

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