If there is one word I despise in the South African lexicon, it’s “disingenuous”, which is a word so loved by journalists and politicians when they disagree with someone’s viewpoint.

But I am tempted to deploy it when I consider Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s professed disgust at the reported cases of irregularities and possible theft relating to the Covid-19 government contracts. In his tweets, he has described a tender as an “ethical contract” and expressed his dismay that some people stole during a pandemic and even asked, “what kind of people are these criminals”?

Well, I have words to describe Mboweni’s reaction to the reports of his comrades’ latest brew of shenanigans. Disingenuous is definitely not one of them. I choose one or two of the following: hoodwink, or perfunctory, or prevarication, or legerdemain, or rhetoric perhaps?

Mboweni has of late been trying to distance himself from the ANC’s controversial policies (for example, on the mandate of the Reserve Bank), and has, correctly, voiced his displeasure with the less-than-stellar conduct of some of his colleagues in the party.

It is clear that he is uncomfortable in the ANC and he knows that he is unpopular with some factions there. In my view, he is trying his utmost to avoid being drenched with the same pungent drops of manure that are cascading over the ANC.

However, he cannot have such an easy pass. People like him, including Cyril Ramaphosa, have for many years been occupying various leadership positions in the ANC. He has been part of the inner sanctum since his days as a student in Lesotho. It is not like he has just woken up to the party’s weaknesses and its members’ predilection for self-gratification and rank opportunism.

Therefore, the hullabaloo around the latest revelations on the Covid-19 tenders should not shock him.

The genesis of the corruption associated with tenders was evident in the 1980s when the comrades foresaw that there would be multiple ways of making money for themselves in a future black-led government. It had begun to be clear that the days of nationalist rule were numbered. Informal negotiations to pave the way for the transfer of political power to the black majority were, if a bit gingerly, already commencing.

The ANC comrades started to plan and to position themselves. The party was cash-strapped. The funding from Nordic and other countries had sustained them well over the years, but they knew that it would dry up after they returned to SA.

So many challenges lay ahead. Party infrastructure and administrative personnel still needed to be installed inside the country. Economists within their ranks needed to put their thinking caps on. They were tasked with generating creative and innovative ideas to make the party financially sustainable. They needed to think not of the present, but 10 to 20 years ahead. How would they fund the ANC’s coming election campaigns and pay staff salaries?

The comrades themselves were also dead broke. Life in exile was very rudimentary. Theirs was mostly a life of spartan existence. They had tasted the finer things in life on their travels in Europe and the decolonised African countries.

How could they lead a bourgeois lifestyle in their own country? Would it look appropriate for the returning, triumphant heroes of the struggle to look and live like the poor proletariat masses that they had left behind in SA? Comrades needed to think afar. Had they joined the struggle to be poor?

It is no surprise that the party leaders were courted by and fell for the charms of arms dealers. The latter are experienced fishermen, long adept at identifying countries and their leaders who could be reeled in and ensconced deep in their boats of grand corruption. It is said, “fishermen can see other fishermen from afar”.

Enter the tender goose that would lay the golden eggs. There was talk about using the new tender system to establish a growing black middle class. It is debatable how far it has gone to achieve this, but it has certainly benefited many politically connected individuals and the ruling party itself.

The Arms Deal became the first big opportunity for the comrades to enrich themselves and to also channel money to the party. This explains why ANC leaders, both in government and outside, were so determined to push through the Arms Deal contracts despite some experts warning against it. It is therefore myopic to think that only the Zumas, Yengenis and others like Fana Hlongwane benefited. The corruption rot ran deep, it was systematic and it was global.

The problem with arms deals is their knack for attracting attention on a global scale due to the involvement of multinational companies. The law enforcement authorities of the countries in which they are registered or based tend to follow any whiff of corruption that is reported to them. Our own Arms Deal was not spared scrutiny. Even some within the ruling party started posing uncomfortable questions to the government and party leaders.

After the contracts were signed and sealed, where and what else could the comrades gorge on? They looked no further than the newly reformed procurement system. Hadn’t they insisted on changing the old system “to align it with the new constitutional imperatives”?

Enter the tender goose that would lay the golden eggs. There was talk about using the new tender system to establish a growing black middle class. It is debatable how far it has gone to achieve this, but it has certainly benefited many politically connected individuals and the ruling party itself.

And the comrades still had to quaff the single malt whiskies and smoke the Havana cigars that they grew up not consuming, but of which they are now connoisseurs, thanks to the glorious movement of “our people” and the tender system that its loyal cadres have been deployed to rig.

Covid-19 came. The music stopped. The whole world was stunned by the silence. The lack of money exacerbated an already-dire situation. Who will be the comrades’ saviour this time?

Step forward our golden goose. Give us our tender golden eggs. The tender goose hasn’t stopped giving, not even in the throes of a pandemic. The comrades can’t afford to see it self-quarantining.

So, Mboweni, if you are still looking for an answer to the above question, and if reports of the identity of the people and companies that have sought to benefit, and have benefited from Covid-19 contracts are true, look no further than under your nose.

In addition, Mboweni can glean guidance from his own party’s Eye of the Needle policy document wherein the ANC decried the calibre of people it has attracted in its ranks. He should also read the Moerane Commission of Inquiry report on political killings in KwaZulu-Natal which has made findings to the effect that his party’s members have killed their own for access to tender resources.

Mboweni and his ilk must stop playing South Africans for fools. They know who has set the rules of the game, who is playing, in which league and to what end.

Political connectedness is the ticket to the game. Viva cadre deployment! Long live our loyal Tender Goose! DM