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Tensions in the ANC Alliance sharpen focus on corruption
If anything good is to emerge from the current worsening tensions within the ruling Alliance consisting of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies – the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SA Communist Party (SACP) – it is that this has caused the assault on corruption to have been stepped up dramatically.
In the process, there could follow over the longer term a shakeout of corrupt or self-enriching political leaders and top officials, which could 'clean up' the political environment. The opposite, of course, could be that such leaders go to ground, close ranks and beat off the moral crusaders and entrench even more deeply a culture of political corruption.
Nonetheless, with particularly Cosatu forcing attention to be focused on corruption in government and questionable self-enrichment of political leaders, opposition parties now also have latched on and are calling for lifestyle audits, for President Jacob Zuma to declare his financial interests, and the enrichment of people such as ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema to be investigated, among other things.
Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has stepped up his campaign calling for senior political and government leaders to undergo lifestyle audits – a demand that has been rejected by Zuma and other senior ANC/government leaders, with debatable excuses. While Zuma’s office has countered that the law was not clear on whether or not he should declare his interests, opposition parties and others say he is required by law to do so and that former president Thabo Mbeki, in any case, had set a precedent by declaring all his interests.
A Sunday newspaper report that Zuma has not yet declared his interests triggered a scathing statement from the increasingly vocal and aggressive Democratic Alliance (DA) leader in Parliament, Athol Trollip.
"The president is required to declare, in an open and transparent manner, all of his interests. He is required to do so because, as a public servant, he needs to be able to demonstrate that the decisions he makes cannot be influenced by his personal circumstance.
"That President Zuma has apparently still not declared his financial interests... demonstrates the level of contempt this president has for transparency in government,” said Trollip.
In terms of a code of ethics that was signed by none other than Zuma in 2000 while he was acting president at the time, all members of Cabinet, including the president, have to declare all their interests – a requirement to which Mbeki had complied while still president.
However, according to the weekend report, Zuma’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya now is questioning whether Zuma is required to do so. In the report, Magwenya said there was a "lack of clarity" on “the interpretation of the language in the Act” over whether Zuma would have to declare his interests.
Adding her voice to the campaign, Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille also is calling on Zuma to declare his interests. She was quoted as saying there was "no grey area in the law” and that Zuma had "no choice" but to declare his interests.
The questionable origin and state of Zuma’s financial interests first came under the spotlight when his close confidante and “financial adviser” Schabir Shaik was tried and convicted on corruption charges. As is history now, Zuma was able – on procedural grounds – to avoid standing trial on corruption charges himself, thus avoiding having to give a full disclosure of his own financial affairs.
But the pressure is not only on Zuma. The campaign led by the Left to pressure ANC leaders to come clean has caused opposition parties to step up the pressure on Malema, among others. Also a vocal rejecter of lifestyle audits and the Left’s campaign, Malema, whose suddenly acquired massive wealth was exposed recently, has all but been accused by De Lille of stealing from the poor through tax evasion.
She claimed that a South African Revenue Service whistle-blower had informed her that neither Malema, nor the companies to which he is linked and which had obtained lucrative government tenders, were tax compliant.
This was backed up by a weekend City Press report, stating that Malema had not submitted tax returns since his election as ANCYL president two years ago. Neither were any of his four companies – of which the report claimed he was still a registered director and shareholder – tax compliant. The report said that Malema himself had never submitted returns.
In addition, the report claimed that 13 more contracts had been awarded to Malema's company, SGL Engineering, but that a document from the Polokwane Municipality did not indicate how much each contract was worth, while the values of contracts to other companies had been shown.
De Lille said that if Malema and his companies were not tax compliant, it would have been illegal for those tenders to have been awarded to these companies.
In a statement, De Lille said the country faced a bleak future "if these are the kinds of leaders we are grooming, leaders that have different rules for themselves than the rest of us and who claim to be pro-poor, when in fact they are ransacking the poor".
Opposition parties now are gearing up to tackle the ANC and President Zuma on these issues. They plan to grill Zuma on 18 March when he has to answer questions in Parliament on issues such as the morality of government ministers, self-enrichment through preferential tender awards, irregular tender awards, lifestyle audits, Malema’s alleged tax evasion, and Zuma’s own financial interests.
Apart from serious economic policy and unemployment-related differences between Cosatu and the ANC, it has been particularly Vavi’s anti-corruption and anti-enrichment campaign that has caused the neck hairs of ANC leaders to bristle. "When we raised this issue, they said 'No! You are putting us on the spot',” exclaimed Vavi this weekend at a meeting of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union.
According to reports, there had been attempts to silence Vavi and divert attention. Vavi intimated that false rumours had been spread about his own wealth and his wife’s alleged business interests, but that his accusers could provide no proof.
The ANC has responded to Vavi’s campaign with a statement issued by spokesperson Jackson Mthembu, saying: “Comrade Vavi speaks with conviction that ‘there is a tiny minority in the ANC leadership and membership which is corrupt and who use the ANC to enrich themselves’. To this end, Comrade Vavi has not raised this matter with the ANC in any of the fora of engagements we have and he has not provided any evidence of such allegations.”
But the fight in the Alliance is not restricted to Vavi. For example, recently SACP secretary-general and Education minister in Zuma’s Cabinet, Blade Nzimande, also lashed out against tenders for cronies and politicians enriching themselves. And, one by one, the powerful trade unions affiliated to Cosatu are taking up the anti-corruption call.
For example, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) has issued a statement containing the following: “NEHAWU condemns the provocative and unproductive exchanges that have distracted everyone from the goal of ensuring that the ANC Government implements the manifesto policies without delay.
"We will remain vigilant and mobilise against those elements that want to hijack the ANC for their selfish interest and will never allow a situation where poor people are used as voting cattle. We shall be monitoring the government to make sure that all its manifesto promises are urgently and fully implemented and will continue to put pressure to the current administration....
"We commit ourselves to work with Cosatu and Government in fighting corruption and nepotism in the public service, and we call on all our members and society to join in the fight.”
If anything, the current developments causing tensions in the Allliance have put corruption and self-enrichment on the spot. Sooner or later, Zuma, his government and his party, will have to respond.
