Regardless of political, religious, tribal or ethnic affiliation, one must give credit where it is due – EFF leader Julius Malema never visited the Guptas. (Of course, cynics may well argue that there was no need to do so because he and Floyd already had multiple connections to VBS Bank).

Similarly, Pravin Gordhan testified last week under oath: “I had no direct or one-on-one meetings with the Guptas … I refused to schedule a meeting with the Gupta family at their residence or anywhere else … I have never been to Saxonwold, to the so-called compound, nor, by the way … did I look for the shebeen in its vicinity.”

Always a step ahead of the ruling party, in May 2016, as the Hawks tried to manipulate trumped-up charges to prosecute Gordhan, Malema’s analysis was spot-on (largely because ANC insiders were feeding him with information): “The plan is to remove Gordhan and place their crony to loot the Treasury… Gordhan must go to court and prove his case against this government.”

In an interview with eNCA in February 2017, Malema maintained that Gordhan offered hope for South Africans: “If there is only one person who’s giving some form of hope for our people, we must be able to support that person and Pravin comes across as such an individual who’s a unifier, who’s seeking good for our country.”

Fast-forward to November 2018, and Gordhan is enemy number one of the EFF, and by default, that of the corrupt in the ANC as well. Gordhan spent three days, 19-21 November 2018, at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and concluded: “The real cost of State Capture is the damage it has done to the institutional fabric of our state. Good people lost their jobs, families were put through trauma and vilification for standing up, and the lasting impact of the past decade weakened and hollowed out our state. A culture of malfeasance was legitimised and tolerated with increasing impunity and a lack of accountability.”

For the duration of Gordhan’s testimony, the EFF protested outside the venue in Parktown, Johannesburg. Malema referred to the State Capture commission as “Mickey Mouse”, called evidence leader Paul Pretorius a “bastard” and criticised Judge Zondo for “presiding over a commission that is stealing the money of the poor”. There were also the mandatory attacks on the media, who were apparently promoting and protecting the “corrupt” Gordhan. Malema hurled invectives at Gordhan:

“An attack on Pravin is an attack on white monopoly capital, Pravin is a dog of white monopoly capital. We must hit the dog until the owner comes out.”

“When you fight against Pravin you must be ready… there will be casualties… there might even be a loss of life… I am not scared of white people, of Johann Rupert or the Oppenheimers… the white people handling them…”

“Today, Pravin has gone into all SoEs and removed all the black excellence because he hates black people.”

The South African Council of Churches found it “unacceptable that an elected public official can call a person, whether government minister or not, a dog; especially given the connotation of such an expression in African culture. Moreover, such name-calling by a popular political leader could easily incite followers to violent acts. It engenders an attitude in society that says other people do not matter”. Remember that Malema honed his invective skills as ANC Youth League President.

The EFF is famous for non-principled, expedient flip-flops, and the turn against Gordhan was linked to the Treasury investigation into VBS Bank, and the oxygen supply for corruption was cut off, and some its senior leaders were implicated.

Gordhan astutely invited his detractors to repeat their allegations at the Commission “under oath and subject themselves to cross-examination. I’m not a commodity for sale, and I think the Guptas learnt that too. I don’t make deals for jobs. I don’t make deals with smugglers or taxpayers or submit to intimidation or bullying. I’m not accountable to bullies”. He also lamented the racist attacks and the undermining of non-racism.

In 2017 Gordhan was subjected to similar public vitriol from Edward and Duduzane Zuma, the essence of which was that he had sold out to white capital. According to Edward Zuma: “Pravin is claiming to be a super and can’t do without individual as he is being used by the whites who clearly want the economy to remain in their hand by hook or crook.”

Duduzane wrote an open, accusatory letter to Gordhan: “All of my bank accounts have been closed by your ‘friends’ in the banking industry. Likely with your support. Anybody can see that you are in bed with them‚ rather than on the side of hard-working South African citizens.”

Gordhan questioned the real purpose of the WMC slogans and narratives: “Is it about genuinely empowering the marginalised and poor? Or is it about the covering up of patronage where a select few benefits from the process and the marginalised are left behind?”

Lat week the ANC allowed Gordhan to be mauled by the EFF. There was a deafening silence while Gordhan was called a “dog” and defamatory attacks on his daughter. ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu was candid: “I don’t know why ANC has not defended Gordhan yet … I would have also expected my organisation not on the third, fourth or fifth day, but on the same day to defend our member.”

Barney Mthombothi succinctly summarised the betrayal: “Gordhan – diligent, upstanding, competent and incorrigible, a rare breed in this era of instant gratification – is being let down by his side.”

On 23 November 2018, ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa tardily condemned the attacks on Pravin Gordhan and the integrity of the Zondo Commission and lamented that some ruling party members were also involved. He also conceded that some of the revelations at the Zondo Commission were embarrassing for the ANC. Ironically, in March 2016, Zizi Kodwa attacked the media’s “overzealousness to portray the leadership of the ANC … as collaborators to fit the fictitious narrative of a Gupta-controlled country”.

Former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas was critical of ANC leaders who were in denial or feigned ignorance about State Capture: “It has become common now for the leadership of the ruling party to say: ‘We didn’t know’. And I get worried when leaders don’t see anything wrong with that … because it speaks to the kind of people who are running this country.”

The EFF’s incoherent bluster dominates political debates because the fractured factions in the ANC render it almost impossible for any intelligent response from that quarter. Ramaphosa’s grip on power is rather precarious, as was evident from the overhyped Cabinet reshuffle on 22 November 2018 which provided an opportunity for decisive action but turned out to be a damp squib, which was more like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

To his credit, Ramaphosa emphasised that it was important to “support and defend people like Pravin Gordhan and a number of others … because what they are seeking to do is to rid our country of the culture of corruption what had seeped into the sinews of the body politic … [Gordhan’s attackers were] deeply embedded in what was going wrong in our country.”

It is evident that the EFF is now also the public voice of the corrupt within the ANC, those who supported, and benefited from, the State Capture project, and whose loyalty remain with the immediate past president of the ruling party (and his handlers in Dubai), and who fear donning orange overalls. It is perhaps not a mere professional coincidence that several aggrieved Zuma acolytes, including Tom Moyane and Supra Mahumapelo, are being represented by Advocate Dali Mpofu, who is also chairperson of the EFF.

In December 2007 Jacob Zuma was swept to power as ANC president by a “coalition of the wounded”. It would appear that a coalition of the corrupt and incompetent is emerging from within the ANC and coalescing with Malema and the EFF. DM