Opinion| Zuma and the ANC collective (ir)responsibility
What former president Jacob Zuma is doing to the ANC, is a direct result of the so-called “closing ranks” and the collective (ir)responsibility, as has always been espoused by the party itself in protecting its leaders involved in alleged malfeasance and acts of corruption.
This has now come to haunt the ANC.
It appears its Zuma who understands the ANC more than the party understands itself. It is Zuma who is getting more publicity mileage than the ANC in this election season, specifically. It is Zuma who wins almost all the court cases against the ANC, whether directly or indirectly.
The disciplinary hearing the ANC is now trying to conduct against Zuma is far too long overdue and may end up being a mere academic exercise. In the end, the winner is likely going to be Zuma, yet again! He will win free publicity and probably some public sympathy while the ANC will be wiping the egg from its face.
As Joel Netshitenzhe correctly pointed out, “protecting a thief for the sake of keeping the family together, is not the right thing to do. It is in fact an act of complicity”, he argues.
Had the ANC adopted the principle of humility and listened to some of the people described as its sworn enemies, when Zuma first showed signs of ill-discipline; when people suspected his alleged propensity towards corruption; when it became clear he was incompetent as a leader; he most probably would be the epitome of, what the ANC fondly describes as a “disciplined member” of the or he would have long been expelled from it, thus causing less damage than he is doing to the ANC right now.
But the ANC chose to sacrifice discipline and uprightness for political expediency, power and office, particularly the power of votes that Zuma delivered to it from his province of KZN, which is the largest in the country.
But Zuma isn’t the only leader in the ANC with questionable integrity. It still harbours, in its top leadership, people who are either crime suspects or alleged to have committed acts of criminality. Those are also to be found on the current ANC lists of parliamentary candidates for the current election season.
The response you will always and obviously get from the ANC is that they have not been criminally charged as yet. To tarnish the image of an organization, one does not first have to be criminally charged.
The mere and reasonable suspicion is enough to do so. And if ultimately the suspects are criminally charged and even convicted, the damage caused will be very difficult to repair.
I sometimes wonder what is it that these individuals so protected have to offer the country, which is so scarce that they are indispensable. At a glance, most if not all, can be replaced without any difficulty.
(Pule Monama is a commentator on local and national issues)
