How the liar Malusi Gigaba has been able to reinvent himself

One of the most interesting and disturbing dynamics of the past few years has been how the liar Malusi Gigaba has been able to reinvent himself. He symbolises the complete failure of our criminal justice system, the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Last week, Gigaba gave an interview in the Sunday Times in which he sharply criticised the state of the ANC and its National Executive Committee.

He appeared to do so in the hope that we have forgotten what he himself has done. Even by our standards his wrongdoing has been exceptional.

In December 2017, the Pretoria High Court found that he had lied under oath.

He had claimed to have not made a decision about whether to grant the contract for the Fireblade Aviation terminal to the Oppenheimers when in fact he had made a decision to grant it to them.

The reason he reversed himself and then lied about it was clear. The Guptas wanted him to.

It followed a long pattern of behaviour in which he made visit after visit after visit to the Guptas’ home in Saxonwold.

The Zondo Commission eventually found that he was one of the people central to the ruin of Denel.

By the time he and Lynne Brown were done Denel was not able to pay salaries. At least two workers were so driven to despair at their feeling of failure that they took their own lives.

Lives that arguably should be placed at the door of Gigaba and Brown.

The commission eventually found that he should be prosecuted for his role during that time.

That is probably not the worst of his crimes. And it is not the worst aspect of his power.

In 2021, when he was nothing more than a senior member of the ANC and an MP, Gigaba was able to get two Hawks officers to arrest his ex-wife, Norma Mngoma, and keep her in prison for two nights.

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This was during the height of the pandemic.

How he was able to do this, why the officers followed what were obviously his instructions, and why no further action was taken against them has never been publicly explained.

But in an important case, a high court judge ruled that her arrest was illegal, as was the conduct of the Hawks officers (while Dali Mpofu has been much criticised of late for using the courtroom as political theatre, it was he who won this case, thus striking an important victory against the complete abuse of power).

The fact Gigaba was able to do this, with absolutely no consequences for him, shows us how power can really work in South Africa.

Gigaba has the ANC to thank for his reinvention. He is nothing without the party. And at every step it is ANC people who have fallen over themselves to help him.

He is currently chairperson of the defence portfolio committee in Parliament. This was obviously an ANC decision. It would have been the party to nominate him as chair of this committee.

This gives him a public podium, and media organisations seeking comment on the important issue of how the South African National Defence Force is now in such decline are correct to speak to the person in this position.

And yet, in doing so, this person, this liar, is given a massive public platform.

Strangely, Ramaphosa, the very person who said the ANC is “Accused No 1” over State Capture, has allowed this to happen. 

There has been not a hint of a whisper of a suggestion that Ramaphosa is unhappy with this choice.

One of the main reasons this is possible is that the ANC’s  disciplinary machinery  has been a complete and utter failure.

Anyone who dares to publicly disagree with this must point to evidence that it can hold ANC leaders to account. 

So far Gigaba and many others accused of wrongdoing linked to the State Capture era have not been held accountable by the ANC.

Promises from so many ANC leaders over the years to act against corruption obviously now mean absolutely nothing.

There is another reason this has happened.

The National Prosecuting Authority, despite all of the major promises over the years, has still not been able to put Gigaba in court, where he would have to answer questions about his conduct under oath.

In other words, one of the main reasons Gigaba is able to do this, is because our criminal justice system has failed so utterly.

The net result of all of this is that someone like Gigaba can now believe that he has a realistic prospect of going back into national government in some capacity.

He himself has made it clear he would like the ANC to stop working with the DA and to consider working with other parties.

Given his track record, his record of working with people who have stolen from South Africa, what could his motive possibly be? To work with the man who led him in that effort to steal? To work with someone else we know has stolen in the past?

There are currently many discussions in our politics about how and why the ANC has failed. 

It is likely that ANC members may feel disappointed at the party’s showing in the 2024 elections – and may have to prepare themselves for more disappointment after the upcoming local elections (where polling shows the ANC is now below 30%).

Perhaps those members should look at who is really responsible for this.

And ask each ANC delegate who voted for Gigaba to be on the ANC’s National Executive Committee in December 2022 why they did it.

Those who claim the ANC is being betrayed should perhaps start there in their search for answers. It is they who are ultimately responsible for Gigaba’s reinvention.

And the current state of the ANC. DM