By: Sandile Gumede
There is a saying which goes, ‘politics is not for the faint hearted’. This rings true almost on a daily basis when you see things that politicians go through in South Africa. Sometimes dodging bullets and sometimes others slandering their names.
Personally, I could not bear any of this. But we have people like an incumbent chief Justice Raymond Zondo who has a very critical role to play in administering justice in the country but chooses to enter political fray.
I was taken aback by some of the recommendations in part four of the Zondo Commission report. What ticked me off was a suggestion that President Cyril Ramaphosa saved us from state capture. This is far from reality or the truth. There is this notion that the Guptas captured the state. This is not entirely true, if you really understand how many arms form a state. But that is a discussion for another day.
Ramaphosa may have such a charisma to the businesspeople and some foreign investors – but he is no savior. In 2016, after the Gupta-State capture was gaining momentum, Ramaphosa had conceded that as Jacob Zuma’s deputy, his job was to support and follow the lead of the then president.
So, if there was a willingness from Zuma’s part to aid and abet the so-called state capture so was Ramaphosa by his own admission in 2016 was there to ‘support Zuma’. Ramaphosa who has been a media darling for so many years, did not do anything to stop the state capture. He willingly participated in ‘Zuma’s corruption’ as the narrative has been created.
But for Zondo to confirm the suspicions of many people about being a Ramaphosa cheerleader is very disturbing.
This behaviour was bemoaned by many when Ramaphosa made an appearance in one of the Zondo’s gossip sessions in the old Joburg Council Chambers.
I am saying it was gossip sessions because many witnesses could just come make allegations without being grilled about evidence. Ramaphosa was treated in kids’ gloves.
And that there are no adverse findings against Ramaphosa or as a leader of a party that thrive in corruption still baffles me. What about the kickbacks that were paid to the party from the likes of (Edwin) Sodi and Bosasa?
If there was any corruption in the Mandela administration, you cannot spare Thabo Mbeki who was his deputy. Likewise, if there was any corruption in Mbeki’s administration you cannot spare Zuma who was his deputy – and claim that they knew nothing about such as now Ramaphosa is projected as holier-than-thou.
Ramaphosa’s hand may have not been inside the cookie-jar, but it does not mean that he was oblivious of what was happening.
Also, he was an ex-officio leader of government businesses but according to Zondo he supposedly saved us. The reality is that there was corruption during Zuma’s tenure. There is corruption right now – in the absence of Guptas or Zuma.
You cannot single out an individual and say this one saved us whereas his administration is marred by corruption as well.
For a person of Zondo’s position to come to such a conclusion is worrisome. If Zondo wants to be a politician he must vacate the bench because with such behaviour, he must not be surprised when politicians criticise his behaviour.
Politicians will go for your jugular because you are inviting them. Be a judge or be Ramaphosa’s cheerleader.
* Sandile Gumede is an independent writer and an academic