ANALYSIS
When corruption and incompetence are not disqualifying enough: Nomvula Mokonyane’s puzzling staying power
There are now strong indications that former Cabinet minister and Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane is on the path to becoming the next deputy secretary-general of the ANC. This possibility reveals much about the ANC; about how the findings of the Zondo Commission appear to mean very little to some of its internal constituencies. It also reveals just how hard it is to understand how deals leading to so much support across provinces are actually knocked together.
Perhaps the biggest lesson from the apparent, and puzzling, rise of Nomvula Mokonyane is that it may demonstrate how – within ANC structures – there is almost no regard for the nationwide perception that the party is riven by corruption.
It also suggests that having a disastrous track record in government will not stop someone from being elected to a senior position.
Mokonyane may be one of those politicians who almost symbolises the duality of the lives of many who gave so much during the Struggle.
As one columnist put it many years ago, “We must remember that in 1986, a heavily pregnant 23-year-old Mokonyane was thrown into jail under the state of emergency declared by the apartheid state. Alone in solitary confinement and without much help from the heartless authorities, the young activist from Kagiso was forced to give birth alone. Exhausted and in pain, she named her son Retlabusa – Sesotho for ‘we (the people) shall govern or rule’.”
If giving birth was a moment of great pain for Mokonyane, it is likely that the passing of Relabusa, her son, at the age of just 23 in 2010, was even greater – a truly awful time. It took place in the full glare of publicity, reflecting her role as a senior politician and premier of Gauteng.
These days, Mokonyane has been at the forefront of our politics for over 20 years as a Gauteng MEC, premier and then a Cabinet minister.
From the horror of having to give birth in solitary confinement, she now bears the mark of the Zondo Commission report.
Chief Justice Zondo found that not only did she receive monthly payments from Bosasa, along with food and an Aston Martin, but she also lied about it (Mokonyane says she will challenge the findings against her in court).
The report recommended that she be investigated and possibly formally charged for her conduct.
Yet, despite that, it appears the leaders of many ANC provinces believe it is Nomvula Mokonyane who should be elected to the position of deputy secretary-general.
While she has not been formally charged, it is surely the case that millions of voters were aware of the claims against her and would have followed her testimony. The findings against her were damning and millions heard the evidence.
It appears that people in the ANC who make the nominating decisions are not concerned about any of this, including the findings of the Zondo Commission – findings that were formally supported by the party’s highest structures.
Should Mokonyane be elected to this position in December, then those who vote for her don’t care about the Zondo Commission’s findings either, ridiculing the whole propaganda of the ANC’s process of “renewal”.
And is not just the Zondo findings: there is also her track record in government, and in our politics more generally.
There can be no doubt of Mokonyane’s previous relationship with Jacob Zuma – she strongly backed him all the way to the end.
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It was she who ran against Paul Mashatile for the leadership of the Gauteng ANC in 2011, essentially as Zuma’s candidate. And when she lost that election, the NEC of the ANC (which Zuma appeared to thoroughly control at the time) then refused to make Mashatile provincial premier, and appointed her to the post instead.
It was during this time that she visited the family of an 18-year-old boy who had been run over by a VIP driver for one of her MECs. Famously, on the way back she conducted an interview on Radio 702 with this journalist. When it became apparent that her car’s sirens were on, she refused to deny that they were breaking the speed limit. It was one of the symbols of the problems and dangers of the blue-light brigades.
When the Gauteng ANC refused to accept her as head of provincial government any longer and insisted that David Makhura become premier in 2014, she was moved to Cabinet.
As Minister of Water and Sanitation, she was accused of allowing what City Press described as her “young male companion” to essentially run the department, and even to issue instructions to her director-general.
A complaint to the Press Ombudsman about the story was dismissed, and the story stood.
When she was removed from that position, her successor, Gugile Nkwinti, described what she left behind as “a mess”.
Former auditor-general (now deceased) Kimi Makwetu also explained how the department did not follow proper procedures.
Many communities are now living with the consequences of this. People in Giyani, and in so many other rural areas – as well as urban areas such as Gqeberha and parts of Joburg – may well be paying the price for her mismanagement of this portfolio.
And, notoriously, there is her response to the collapse in the value of our currency during Zuma’s final reshuffle at midnight at the end of March 2017. Speaking at a stadium four days after the reshuffle, she said, “Let the rand fall, we will pick it up.”
Despite this, she was still elected by the ANC’s NEC to the position of Chair of the ANC’s National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal. She resigned from the position earlier this year, claiming to have too heavy a workload (although a cynic might suggest it was more likely because of the pending findings against her by Zondo).
All of this leads to the question: With this kind of track record, how is she now able to get support from across different slates?
While there have been some indications that the process of electing ANC leaders this year has been more transparent than in the past, there is much that is still opaque.
And it is not clear how she has come to be proposed for the position by the provincial leaderships of KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Limpopo. While these are only three provinces of the ANC, the political power of these choices comes from the fact that they appear to cross the leadership slate. Gauteng and Limpopo are backing President Cyril Ramaphosa for another term as leader, while KZN is backing Dr Zweli Mkhize. Even Ramaphosa’s own ANC branch, in Chaiwelo in Soweto, has formally nominated Mokonyane for the position.
It is her apparent ability to get support from both slates that matters.
This gets to the heart of the issue in the ANC: How is it that people with such troubling track records get into such strong positions? Why them, and not someone else? In a sense, it is the ultimate question of democratic politics almost anywhere.
It may be that the public beginnings of this journey lie in the Eastern Cape. It appears that it was there, during a march against gender-based violence in May after the killing of Namhla Mtwa, that Mokonyane first spoke in public after the Zondo findings.
She appeared again in August, protesting the same issue in the wake of the gang-rape attack in Krugersdorp.
But it appears that the real politicking has been behind closed doors, within ANC branches and structures.
While it is not certain at this stage that Mokonyane will claim this position in December, it may be worth asking what the impact of her possible election would be. And it would not just be limited to the messaging to voters that the Zondo findings do not matter.
Many of the ANC’s problems are managerial in nature: it has no money; it has branches and regions that want different things; and the number of disputes within the party is only likely to increase. If someone who has this track record is now in the office of the secretary-general, it appears unlikely that the management of these issues will improve.
Is someone who once told people in Bekkersdal that the ANC doesn’t need your “dirty votes” – a person who allowed someone else to run a national department while she was its minister – really the appropriate candidate for this position? And if not, how then has she received this wide support?
If Mokonyane is elected to what could be an important position in the ANC, it may be that the ANC itself is the organisation that really pays a price for such a decision. DM
The proverbial camel’s back has been broken. It’s too late & there is no way back. It does not matter how much intangible proof of malfeasance & incompetence exists against Mokonyane as there are no consequences, neither for her nor the others. In addition, there is no way the ANC will relinquish national power, that is even if they lose national elections.
True, They can only go out the same way they came in. Not through democracy. Democracy is a small stumbling block for the ANC. A mere pebble in the pathway.
It too astounds and dismays me when people with dire tack records, to say the least, get support and promotion. Perhaps it is known that the majority of voters in SA are poorly educated and “cannot read for meaning”, to quote previous articles and reports.
Sadly I fear it is us South Africans who ultimately pay the price of disastrous and self-serving leadership; I don’t see any evidence of the ANC paying the price – where one bad apple falls or “steps aside”, another baddie is sure to appear.
That the ANC programme of renewal is a sham, deception, travesty, and downright lie of the worst possible kind has been beyond doubt since Cyril proclaimed it. The ANC leadership are lying cheats and dangerous psychopaths, but they don’t care; the vast majority of us, stupid SAs, will vote for them. The ANC leadership may be brain-dead, but they are not stupid. But thanks for reminding us, Stephen.
It underlines the absolute necessity that ALL those implicated by the ZC actually get charged; that is the only way we can make progress and chop out the disease-riddled, and thus continually corrupting nastiness within the ANC, and only then can we make meaningful progress as a country.
The ANC’s step aside rule is it’s Achilles heel. Mokonyane was recommended for investigation in the Zondo report, and if the NPA is too busy frying bigger fish, it will fall to private litigation to prosecute her. This is expensive and will require fund raising on a large scale. But it is one of the few ways that good people can enter this war, and enter it we must.
This is the way! There is absolutely no value addition in any form with the ANC. Their “business” model is interjection as a cost layer. All you have to do is tell good stories and remain popular.
It breaks my heart. The ANC (which i once worshipped) is paralyzed, incompetent and corrupt and foolish – who kills the golden goose? The people of our country suffer more and more. While civil society is making some noise, i dont see the answer there. To our peril, the “answer” may come from Malema or someone like that, harnessing the unhappiness. This will be bad for all, including those that support him, but what do they have to lose?
Spot on observation and comment! Until we know who is funding these political parties and expose their motivation, we don’t stand a chance in hell! Politics is all about personal and individual power – it has absolutely nothing to do with doing the right thing for the people that need it or the taxpayer who is funding everything!
Being corrupt and/or incompetent is a necessary requirement for ANC positions. I’m struggling to think of any who are not corrupt and/or incompetent. Perhaps Barbara Creecy?
I agree – although I have my doubts about Creecy too. Being corrupt, incompetent and thoroughly unscrupulous are essential skills in the ANC.
Does she have dirt on a lot of people?
Nomvula Mokonyane is a testimony that corruption is emblematic of the ANC and is similar to Cyril Ramaphosa who is paraded as a saint. It tells you if you are looking for saints in the ANC go somewhere else. An institution no other than the parliament, when the department of Water Affairs had two committees meeting, the Portfolio Committee on Water Affairs under Lulu Johnson and the SCOPA under Themba Godi found that there is no department when R13 billion could not be accounted for and made a report to the National Assembly. Cyril Ramaphosa as a Deputy President and head of government did nothing about the matter. In that report was the issue of Giyani and boreholes and the question of Mzimvubu Dam with corrupt tenders and Ben 10s. What was galling was that she had screwed very poor communities and that she continues to play a central role in the ANC is very shocking with such a finding by the 5th Parliament. That the Zondo Commission did not investigate the corruption in that department was very shocking to many of us who care about the rural poor that are daily betrayed by the ANC. This goes for one ANC Rinkals, called Pule Mabe who left parliament and received a skokiaan tender from the Johannesburg Metro under Parks Tau for rubbish R27m “tuk – tuk” tender. Now they also want him to be Treasurer. The corrupt SIU has still to report on the tender and have Pule Mabe arrested.
You should be working for AmaBhungane! Your comments are most insightful and interesting.
While incomprehensible from the outside, it is not surprising. The ANC does not have the same rule book, and so these outcomes continue. The only way is at at the ballot box. Even then, as commented earlier, the ANC will not give up power. SA’s trajectory is a well worn path on the continent.
I’ve never voted for the ANC (at least that I have that dignity left). But unfortunately the majority have, and they’ve got what they voted for. Our domestic says that she’d rather have a corrupt ANC and president than a “white” party. And so it shall remain. The poor will get poorer and poorer and poorer just because they prefer the ANC (and God help us all the EFF).
I’d fire her.
The headline is wrong. It is not “puzzling” at all. As stated in a comment (not mine) last week, the ANC is simply a giant Ponzi scheme. Mokonyane got in early (the best way to riches in such a scheme), and is now very close to the top of the pyramid. Hopefully, this particulary Ponzi scheme will collapse in 2024 (all such schemes eventually do) but, until then power (which equates to material wealth) will remain the priority of the scheme.
It always amazes me that South Africa survives inspite of its political leaders and Cabinet instead of because it has great leadership and Governance! I’m just wondering how much longer we can still pull this off….and what happens when we can’t!
If only John Steenhuisen and his daddy Helen were to stop making weird videos with random silent people of colour waving flags monotonously while he speaks – Ms. Mokonyane’s exploits would be amazing election posters and slogans. No need to even say the word corruption, but simply remind the electorate of what she has achieved when mandated to govern or to lead execution in a national department.
It is astonishing that the DA has been unable to make political hay given the shambles the ANC has made of everything. Big egos? Knowing it all?
Are you really surprised? It’s like the mafia HQ-“Maria” who earned her strips through bad deeds is now being rewarded with a promotion. Stop thinking about this logically! We are not dealing with a normal organization (ie a governing party with their citizens best interest at heart) Once you apply mafia organizational principles, it then makes sense. I’m surprised you are gobsmacked enough to even write an article about it. Logic does not make sense when you try to figure out our “leaders” (Capos)
Follow the patronage money, Stephen, follow the patronage money. ‘Should Mokonyane be elected to this position in December, then those who vote for her don’t care about the Zondo Commission’s findings either, ridiculing the whole propaganda of the ANC’s process of “renewal”.’
Of course they don’t care! She is ANC royalty and commands respect by ensuring the proceeds of her corruption trickle down to her ‘subjects’ and supporters in the branches. A symptom of everything that’s wrong with the world these days. And it’s not a ‘racist’ thing to say; black Africans are doing this, for sure – but other corrupt regimes like Russia and Brazil are propped up by similar practices.
To Sam Shu. You, like I were taken in by the propaganda of the early ANC ! BUT … there was one person who was not … Madiba of all people ! How else do you explain his unambiguous claim that ” if the ANC does to you what the apartheid regime did, then you must do to it what you did to the apartheid regime. ” Talk about clear sightedness !
The problem with Grootes’ analysis is that he regards the ANC as a genuine democratic organisation … which it was in the early days. However, the analysis flounders because it still regards it in that light, when …. in fact it has degenerated into a criminal enterprise. Even its current head (with a legal background to boot!) still tries to cajole the head of our judiciary into believing that ‘cadre deployment’ is constitutional ! AND he is not even a ‘radical’ in that gang of misfits . Fasten your seatbelts !
Zimbabwe Mugabe writings are on the wall. The people do not matter. Opinions nor the law matters. The elephant in the room is that nothing works and we cannot see that Zimbabwe has already happened. Eskom is never going to be fixed. The health system cannot be fixed. Water and Sanitation need dams which cannot be built. Angie failed 15 years ago and education cannot fall any lower. Transnet will not be fixed nor will trains run. PRASA, and public transport has failed. SAPS – plays a large part in why all the above has failed.
Those in power will stay in power at all cost – the honour among thieves is that they will fight for each other to make sure they all keep their loot and it can only be done if they have power. Then they live in tax havens outside SA while we bleed🩸
Like Idi Amin.