The word corruption seems inextricably linked with the ANC, but it’s their lack of motion in putting tough, anti-corruption legislation in place that helps to strengthen the public perception of their collusion with corruption, writes Max Matavire
Is the ANC ‘s delay in implementing the Public Procurement Act—first mooted seven years ago and enacted into law last year—a deliberate plan by the party to continue abusing the tendering system to its benefit and boost its dwindling coffers?
Judging from what has been happening as far back as 2010 when, as the ruling party, it started using it’s strategically positioned senior cadres in government and State-run entities to influence the awarding of contracts, it can be argued that the delay in implementing this all-important legislation has benefitted—and continues to benefit—the ANC.
After the devastating effects of State Capture, which continue to be felt to date, which saw three Gupta brothers penetrating and taking effective control of some of the country’s main economic sectors—mining and transport logistics—and right through to the Presidency, National Treasury came up with a legislative proposal to curb and control the awarding of government tenders. The legislation allowed for transparency and fairness in the tendering system in the form of the Public Procurement Bill in 2018 and, subsequently, the Public Procurement Act last year.
Despite all the necessary instruments of this law now being in place, it is yet to be implemented. In the meantime the procurement system continues to be abused, resulting in massive corruption, primarily by those politically connected to the country’s biggest political party.
The ANC has become masters of the concept of quid pro quo with the party, perfecting this art to full advantage by positioning its senior cadres in influential positions in either government- or state-owned enterprises with power and influence in terms of the dispensing of tenders.
The party took advantage of enjoying an absolute majority since 1994, which allowed it to deploy it’s cadres in almost all strategic positions, with some becoming cabinet ministers and others holding influential positions in State entities where they would dispense tenders in exchange for party political funding which was cleverly disguised as donations.
This practice served as the ANC’s primary fundraising mechanism until the ushering in of the new dispensation (the Government of National Unity) last year, when the ANC ceased to govern as an absolute majority, following a dismal electoral performance in the last election.
There are numerous instances where ANC cadres—holding positions of power in either local government, commerce and industry—have either been directly involved in or have had a hand in influencing the awarding of contracts on a quid pro quo basis. The funds which are paid back by those who would have benefitted from the contracts are either used to boost the dwindling coffers of the party or for obscene, in-your-face consumption and wealth accumulation by the party cadres.
Only this month (July) President Cyril Ramaphosa had to send his Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on a leave of absence after he was implicated in damning explosive corruption revelations made by KwaZulu-Natal provincial Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Mchunu is alleged to be in the pockets of shady criminal elements who were illegally awarded police health tenders valued at over R300-million.
Incidents such as the Guptas’ capture of the State, Hitachi, Bosasa, Edwin Sodi’s Rooival waterworks tender and the recently cancelled R320-million South African Police Services tender awarded to Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala are some of the only publicly known corrupt tenders awarded on a quid pro quo basis with the involvement of ANC cadres in senior positions in government.
Currently, citizens are frothing from the mouth following Mkhwanazi’s revelations. Initially Mchunu said he didn’t know middleman Brown Mogotsi, but he later changed tack and admitted that he (Mogotsi) was his ”comrade”.
Mogotsi seems to be the link between Mchunu and serial criminal Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala—the one awarded an SAPS tender valued at over R300-million. Mogotsi spent millions of rands entertaining and paying for accommodation for ANC cadres during the party’s 8th Anniversary celebrations in Cape Town earlier this year. He is also said to be one of the runners of the 2017, CR17 election campaign which ushered in Ramaphosa to the country’s top post. This even makes it difficult to fathom that, after playing such a role, he will ever face prosecution.
The R300-million-plus SAPS tender was later cancelled after it was found that it was irregularly awarded and Matlala—who is currently in prison for a separate case of attempted murder—awaits another trial for the botched police tender. In 2019, then-ANC Treasurer General Zweli Mkhize admitted to receiving ”donations” from Bosasa, a hospitality and utilities company which had been awarded numerous Department of Correctional Services tenders valued at R1-billion and whose chairman—Gavin Watson—was a close ally of then-President Jacob Zuma.
In what was a clear payback, Bosasa threw lavish birthday parties for Zuma and then-ANC Deputy Secretary Nomvula Mokonyane. It also donated R6-million towards the ANC’s 2014 national election campaign. Over a period of two decades, Bosasa is said to have donated in the region of R40-million towards the ANC’s Siyanqoba rallies, and in exchange the company netted R12-billion worth of tenders between 2004 and 2019. ”Thank you for your support to the ANC in 2014,” Mkhize is quoted to have said that time at an occasion at Luthuli House when receiving a Bosasa delegation led by Watson.
The unholy ANC/Bosasa alliance, together with influence of the Gupta family—three Indian brothers who had weaved their way through government up to the Presidency—culminated in the establishing of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. The Guptas plundered the country’s economy and could even influence the appointment of cabinet ministers and chairmen of boards of State-owned entities.
This is all because the ANC had allowed the Guptas access to almost every sector of the country’s economy. When appearing before the Zondo Commission to answer for the massive corruption at the State logistics entity, Lucky Montana (the former Prasa chief executive who was later disappointed by the ANC and went on to join the MKP) said that on numerous occasions the ANC used to demand money from the State entity.
Alliance partner SACP’s general secretary, Blade Nzimande coined the word ”tenderpreneur”—a colloquial term for people who leverage political influence to obtain government tenders—after noticing with shame the abuse of the tendering system and the related corruption. This involves a system of patronage and reciprocal benefits where businesspeople gain access to contracts through connections with political or government officials. This is also done in the guise of promoting black economic empowerment.
The ANC could go as far as dismissing its own cadres deployed in government if they didn’t play ball. This is evidenced by the sacking by then-President Zuma of the late former Finance Minister Pravin Gordan, his replacement Nhlanhla Nene, along with former Mineral Resources Minister Ngwako Ramathlodi. They were all replaced by ‘compliant’ cadres.
University of KwaZulu-Natal academic Professor Sipho Seepe says that, from the onset, the ANC understood that electoral democracy is expensive. ”Campaigning does not come cheap,” said Seepe in an interview. ”With no control of the economy, the ANC had to rely on donations from the private sector. This did not, however, come without conditions. Faced with this reality, the ANC resorted to using State Power to raise funds and influence parties that sought to do business with the State.”
”Big business on the other hand decided to co-opt many ANC cadres into company boards as a way of influencing the awarding of tenders,” added Seepe. “This co-option had nothing to do with transformation; if anything, those appointed became useful tools to retard and frustrate socio-economic transformation. In other words, what we have is a mutually corrupt relationship between the ANC and many of its funders. Even the anti-corruption howlers are beneficiaries of this scheme. Nothing comes for free. Big business did not throw its money to support Ramaphosa’s candidacy without expecting anything in return. This was a prepaid and possibly corrupt arrangement.”
Hard talking and no-holds-barred good governance expert Sandile Swana echoes the same sentiments, adding that there is plenty of evidence showing that the ANC has an assortment of tenderpreneurs who use the State tender processes to fund the party.
”We also know that it has partnered with multi-nationals to launch irregular tender system-organisations like Hitachi, McKinsey and even what has come to be termed the Arms Deal, which has kept Zuma in court up to now. The deal involved a number of European countries in a highly irregular tendering processes,” said Swana in a telephone interview.
Despite the Public Procurement Bill being enacted into law last year, it still hasn’t been implemented. The Act aims to regulate public procurement across all spheres of government by establishing a framework for a fair, transparent and efficient procurement process that promotes accountability and combats corruption.
With this law still inactive, tendering corruption will continue unabated and, although arrests are effected, prosecutions will drag on until eventually the noise dies down as citizens turn their attention to the next fresh corruption case that emerges.
Max Matavire is a freelance Journalist who writes for City Press, the Mail & Guardian and Sunday Times.
