To stop looting, halt cadre deployment

Now we understand why Jacob Zuma and his minions were in such a hurry to trot him out over the weekend to try to lash out at President Cyril Ramaphosa … he knew what was coming.

Even as the Phala Phala incident – and its multiple unanswered questions – threw shade over Ramaphosa’s integrity – and Zuma capitalised on it to accuse the president of corruption – Ramaphosa stood up to remind the country of just how much it had been damaged by state capture.

In his address to the nation about his response to the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Ramaphosa said: “Few could have imagined this group of people would infiltrate key departments, state-owned companies, private companies, law enforcement bodies and security services to loot vast amounts of public funds; that they would weaken and destroy state institutions and thus undermine the capacity of the state. The corruption that was perpetrated is a crime against the people of South Africa.”

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And no matter how bad Phala Phala might be, it pales in comparison to the weapons-grade looting executed by Zuma and his accomplices. Millions of South Africans have been deprived of a future because of the scale of the money stolen.

The load shedding is just one, albeit constant, reminder of how our public enterprises were laid low by the thieves. Ramaphosa promised that the Zondo report and the action flowing from it would have “a lasting impact on our democracy and our country”.

The only way that is going to happen, sir, is if you whole-heartedly implement Zondo’s excellent recommendations. At the core of those is halting the ANC’s system of cadre deployment, which has allowed looters and idiots to destroy our country.

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Merit, not party loyalty, should be your party’s new policy. Otherwise, it will all happen again.