Mosebenzi Zwane, a former member of the executive under the Zuma administration and the current chair of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport, at the Zondo Commission this week sought to downplay his role in a failed housing project that cost more than R1-billion in taxpayers’ money.

The process unfolding at the State Capture Commission, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, continues to boggle the mind, with so many implicated parties pretending that capture and diversion of the republic’s mandate did not take place. We are encouraged by them to accept that they should be held to a lower standard of accountability.

The actors in the State Capture project remind us they are mere politicians, and so we really cannot expect them to have done more. We are led to believe that the role of the executive head of a government department is simply to conduct ribbon-cutting activities, and that they blindly rely on the advice of “subject-matter experts”. These are attempts to shield them from responsibility. 

The game is being played over and above the manoeuvring, obfuscation and mudslinging on the part of Jacob Zuma to avoid accounting to South Africa what his role as head of state was in the State Capture project. This game is further peddled by cadres such as Carl Niehaus, who seek to circumvent or derail the work of the commission.

Zwane claims that he is willing to continue supporting the work of the commission. It would be more beneficial for South Africa if Zwane and others of his ilk concluded plea deals, like the one entered into by the former VBS chief financial officer, Philip Truter. Instead, we have to go through a charade that seeks to fool South Africa by pretending nothing untoward or illegal actually happened. The alternative narrative peddled at the commission beyond blanket denials is that only bona fide mistakes were made, and they simply did not know that they were acting wrongly. That story is neither believable nor effective.

South Africans are exhausted, frustrated and angered by a lost decade. We have no time for these games. Our patience has long been exhausted. The house of cards of State Capture is simply not stable or sound enough to mislead us. That lost decade has deprived us of our rights, stolen from the fiscus, and created a generous feeding trough for politicians and business.

South Africa can ill-afford to avoid holding our leaders accountable. We must be exacting to ensure proper values are reintroduced at all levels of governance. The avoidance of responsibility is not new to South Africa – many in the autocratic and violent apartheid regime similarly attempted to claim that the illegal and criminal acts were not done with their approval, or that those acts were not knowingly committed on behalf of the regime from which they themselves benefited. 

The African National Congress, as the governing party of the republic, has been entrusted by the electorate to serve the interests of the republic, its citizens and the Constitution, but that trust has often been taken for granted, broken or abused since the advent of our democracy in 1994. 

The ANC has summed up its leadership policy as being whether a member and candidate can pass “through the eye of the needle” based on their deeds, character and values. Unfortunately, the ANC has paid lip service to this position since 2001.

Zondo has implored those testifying before the commission to take account for their conduct, admit fault and to ultimately take responsibility. Instead, the commission has heard endless testimony that seeks to avoid responsibility and accountability from those implicated in State Capture and indeed the actors and functionaries of that criminal project.

Zondo calls leaders to account for State Capture; Zuma demands the Chair recuse himself

Legislation and regulation has been wished away by elected representatives and public servants in order to serve the project of State Capture. South Africa continues to struggle from the consequences of that gigantic theft, which has drained our ability to deliver services, crippled institutions and resulted in the collapse of entire sectors, such as passenger rail.

The standards by which we hold political, administrative officials and public servants must be bolstered and improved. Minister Senzo Mchunu and the Department of Public Service and Administration must lead the efforts together with the Presidency and National Treasury to bolster the existing legislative and regulatory framework in order to close the gaps. Over and above the introduction of new standards and improved governance structures, all spheres of government must properly account for how they procured goods and services.

The scandals around Covid-19 related procurement highlight the almost absolute reliance on the private sector to render services and provide goods. The muscle of the Auditor-General, Parliament and the Special Investigating Unit must be used more effectively to uncover the work that is undertaken on behalf of South Africa but that only serves self-interest and greed.

South Africa not only requires elected representatives, public servants and officials to act within the confines of the law, but to make sound and sensible decisions that are informed and seek to serve the nation. DM