South African opposition parties have ganged up on the ANC, lambasting its 30 years of governing South Africa, with just over a month to go to the May 29 elections.
During The Star Political Dialogue held at the Johannesburg Theatre, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) represented by its spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, the African Transformation Movement’s Nyaniso Jeku, the DA’s Solly Msimanga, Colleen Makhubele, president of the SA Rainbow Alliance (SARA), Thapelo Amad from Al Jama-ah and the UDM’s Professor Mthunzi Mdwaba tore into the ANC, criticising its leadership and way of governance.
The political dialogue, organised by the publication and hosted by its editor, Sifiso Mahlangu, gave the parties the opportunity to ventilate issues affecting ordinary South Africans while drumming up support for the upcoming elections.
Despite The Star’s invitation to the governing party, its spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, did not take up the offer, giving the parties an opportunity to launch their assault on the ANC in its absence.
Firing the first salvo, the ATM raised the matter of the Phala Phala scandal involving President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The scandal involved millions of undeclared foreign currency that was hidden on Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo.
“The ATM has been in the forefront of championing accountability in Parliament. From 2019 until now we have been demonstrating how serious we are about accountability.
“The ANC in its tenure has not been serious about clearing up corruption. In fact the party is infested with corrupt officials of the government. The ATM has not been in government and we are victims of parties that have accessed governance, and we have demonstrated that we are serious about fighting corruption and delivering services to the people,” Jeku said.
He was referring to the accusation that Ramaphosa had not accounted for Phala Phala. It was ATM that lodged a complaint with the then public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, which became a section 189 investigation that led to former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo finding against Ramaphosa.
ANC MPs elected to find against Ngcobo’s report, essentially scrapping it.
Ndhlela echoed the ATM, saying the ANC had reached its expiry date and was no longer popular among South Africans.
“What has happened in the past is that we have a person who is serving as a minister from the ANC making ill decisions when it comes to government and corruption and then they find themselves being protected on the ANC level, and that is a conflict because you can't be a referee and a player at the same time ... and the ANC has found (itself) being a specialist in failing to account,” Ndhlela said.
Makhubele said her party was against kakistocracy, which has led to poor service delivery in municipalities across the board.
As part of its manifesto, the SA Rainbow Alliance has promised to end kakistocracy and adopt a more merit-based deployment system of people in government.
“Believe you me, I am not here in politics because I have nothing or nowhere else to go. I am here because I want to serve and believe in the professionalisation of our politics.
“As SARA, we believe in a merit-based system and want to put an end to kakistocracy, which has really destroyed this country,“ said Makhubele.
Mdwaba, from the UDM, said the country’s economy, led by the ANC, had been in decline over the past 15 years, while the jobs plan announced this week by Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi was a cheap rip-off of his (Mdwaba’s) UIF jobs plan, which he had initiated with the department before it was canned.
Amad agreed that South Africa needed more capable deployees across the local, provincial and national spheres of government and that the time of ANC rule had come to an end.
The Star