Steve Hayes
2017-06-08 17:39:07 UTC
Only way to fix betrayal of worst order
By Omry Makgoale -
June 8, 2017
The South African Council of Churches’ report into state capture
conducted after the revelations by the former deputy finance minister,
Mcebisi Jonas, laid bare the reality that organised crime syndicates
are in command in South Africa. We are living in a Mafia state.
President Jacob Zuma
It is now clear why 80% of the ANC national executive committee (NEC)
does not want President Jacob Zuma to step down. Many are captured and
compliant as proxies, lieutenants and instruments of this Mafia state.
This is why they are against the commission of inquiry into state
capture proposed by the former Public Protector, Advocate Thuli
Madonsela, to be conducted by one judge appointed by the Chief
Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng.
They know they too could feature strongly in that report.
On-again off-again Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, Eskom board chair Dr Ben
Ngubane and the current Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba: these names
feature throughout the SACC report.
From the time Gigaba was minister of public enterprises to his present
position at the ministry of finance – following the chopping down of
Pravin Gordhan and Jonas – he has featured as a central figure in the
state capture roll-out.
The deluge of e-mails known as Guptaleaks now being made public has
shown that it was on Gigaba’s watch that Home Affairs facilitated the
placing of Gupta-linked immigration officials in India where they
fast-tracked visas for the Guptas as they moved family, staff and
business associates between Dubai, India and South Africa. This
included providing visas for Indian nationals employed by the ANN7 TV
channel in South Africa.
And as Public Enterprises Minister Gigaba was the one who appointed
Brian Molefe to Transnet as chief executive in 2011 – before Molefe
moved to Eskom and then parliament last year.
Gigaba also appointed, among others, Iqbal Sharma‚ who is close to the
Guptas‚ to the Transnet board‚ where he oversaw procurement.
Now with Gigaba as a finance minister we must surely brace for the
worst for the country: maybe the ultimate loss of our sovereignty
under the colours of the ANC.
It is no longer a secret or supposition that organised crime is taking
over the state apparatus, removing competent civil servants and
replacing them with a gangster-style goodfellas.
For ANC stalwarts it is almost beyond comprehension that the majority
of the current ANC NEC can pretend to be loyal to the ANC, or
defending the party while knowing very well that they are actually
loyal to the Guptas and not the principles of the ANC.
The ANC is lost and maybe for good, like the National Party of Hendrik
Verwoerd, BJ Vorster, PW Botha and FW de Klerk. It might never
recover, unless it faces up to the need for a radical transformation
of itself to save itself – for starters a total overhaul of the way we
elect members of parliament.
The failure of the NEC to rein in Zuma is the worst betrayal of all.
It is the responsibility of the NEC to hold the president accountable
to the policies of ANC, as set out in the document “Through the Eye of
the Needle”, which requires unquestionable conduct and maximum
discipline from leaders. They are expected to be exemplary.
What example is the president showing when he instructs Themba Maseko
to help the Guptas? The NEC was supposed to call him to order. But
what do they do? They support him as he breaks each and every
principle of the ANC.
What example are they setting?
This is the worst betrayal, comrade secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.
Never deceive yourself and blame others for your own shortcomings.
Take responsibility for the mess happening in front of your eyes.
Can members of National Assembly save the day?
It is now left to ANC MPs to save the country from the continued
looting of the country under the leadership of President Zuma whilst
the SG and his colleagues in the top six appear paralysed and
helpless. Ideally, they should have reined in the president. They
should have pulled him into order, but like other cowards they too
kept mum. But since the NEC supported the president, never mind his
trampling on the constitution, it is left to ANC members of the
National Assembly to remove him from office.
These ANC MPs are being told not to betray the ANC or Zuma. But truth
be told, Zuma has betrayed the country by handing over power to the
Guptas under the nose of the SG.
What is your understanding of the worst betrayal comrade SG, if
handing over power to a foreign family is not the worst?
If ANC MPs vote with the opposition to remove Zuma as the country’s
president, that will be good for the country because the SG has failed
the country to stop Zuma and family from looting state assets.
The ANC top six should have stopped him from destroying the country
and the ANC, and it would have saved the MPs from being a last line of
defence of the constitution and having the task of removing President
Zuma.
Of course the terrible flaw in South Africa’s electoral law, makes the
ruling party MPs captives of Luthuli House, since they are all
appointees from party headquarters, which can remove any of them in a
second. Their careers, their salaries and their pensions are hostage
to the secretary-general, acting as the president’s fixer-in-chief.
None of our MPs are directly elected by the people so they have none
of the protections that a constituency system gives by law to MPs
until the next election.
So, instead of creating brave and independent-minded representatives
of the voters, our political system has created a culture of political
slavishness in the National Assembly which should shame every black
person in this country.
Was it all for this that the ANC was founded 105 years ago?
We have now regressed to a situation where democratic mass action by
the people themselves outside parliament is the only way to win
universal franchise, though this time we need action that is peaceful
and constitutional.
We must rely on the collective power and wisdom of the masses to save
the country and the ANC.
We have no option but to continue organising mass actions to remove
Zuma at the earliest possible time and also to reform the electoral
laws.
I speak of mass actions similar those organised by the United
Democratic Front in the 1980s which will help conscientise the
population to the fact that the way forward is to establish a properly
constituted constitutional democracy through electoral reform.
By reforming the electoral laws we will empower the population to
elect and select the best candidates from the population to lead the
country in all the respective spheres of state and government. We must
establish individual accountability of politicians without exception.
The fundamental issue is to establish individual accountability from
the bottom up: ward councillors, mayors, the provincial members of
parliament, the premiers, national MPs and the president at the top.
Every politician must be held individually accountable by his/her
local community in the area where he/she comes from.
This is why I propose a system of large multi-member constituencies
(MMCs) in line with the recommendations made by Dr Frederik van Zyl
Slabbert’s electoral task team report of 2003.
That task team recommended that 75% of MPs should be elected directly
by constituencies and 25% elected in the current manner, by
proportional representation.
Local party branches will then have a level of power they have never
had since 1994; to select candidates they know and trust to stand for
election to provincial legislatures and National Assembly, and whom
they can de-select at the next election if their candidates fail the
people.
In this way, the voters will get final choice of who becomes an MP,
not Luthuli House, and the integrity of the MP will be protected by
the constituency, not pawned out to the Guptas.
This is the only way to render ineffective the impact of fraud and
gerrymandering in internal party elections, going on to affect the
national politics. We will then be able to eliminate the impact of
vote-rigging within political parties, as happens now as a matter of
routine within the ANC.
South Africa will then be able to begin to regain its lost moral
integrity – something that now lies trampled in the dirt.
Omry Makgoale is rank and file member of the ANC. This is his personal
opinion
https://t.co/TJDFhamc1N
By Omry Makgoale -
June 8, 2017
The South African Council of Churches’ report into state capture
conducted after the revelations by the former deputy finance minister,
Mcebisi Jonas, laid bare the reality that organised crime syndicates
are in command in South Africa. We are living in a Mafia state.
President Jacob Zuma
It is now clear why 80% of the ANC national executive committee (NEC)
does not want President Jacob Zuma to step down. Many are captured and
compliant as proxies, lieutenants and instruments of this Mafia state.
This is why they are against the commission of inquiry into state
capture proposed by the former Public Protector, Advocate Thuli
Madonsela, to be conducted by one judge appointed by the Chief
Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng.
They know they too could feature strongly in that report.
On-again off-again Eskom CEO Brian Molefe, Eskom board chair Dr Ben
Ngubane and the current Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba: these names
feature throughout the SACC report.
From the time Gigaba was minister of public enterprises to his present
position at the ministry of finance – following the chopping down of
Pravin Gordhan and Jonas – he has featured as a central figure in the
state capture roll-out.
The deluge of e-mails known as Guptaleaks now being made public has
shown that it was on Gigaba’s watch that Home Affairs facilitated the
placing of Gupta-linked immigration officials in India where they
fast-tracked visas for the Guptas as they moved family, staff and
business associates between Dubai, India and South Africa. This
included providing visas for Indian nationals employed by the ANN7 TV
channel in South Africa.
And as Public Enterprises Minister Gigaba was the one who appointed
Brian Molefe to Transnet as chief executive in 2011 – before Molefe
moved to Eskom and then parliament last year.
Gigaba also appointed, among others, Iqbal Sharma‚ who is close to the
Guptas‚ to the Transnet board‚ where he oversaw procurement.
Now with Gigaba as a finance minister we must surely brace for the
worst for the country: maybe the ultimate loss of our sovereignty
under the colours of the ANC.
It is no longer a secret or supposition that organised crime is taking
over the state apparatus, removing competent civil servants and
replacing them with a gangster-style goodfellas.
For ANC stalwarts it is almost beyond comprehension that the majority
of the current ANC NEC can pretend to be loyal to the ANC, or
defending the party while knowing very well that they are actually
loyal to the Guptas and not the principles of the ANC.
The ANC is lost and maybe for good, like the National Party of Hendrik
Verwoerd, BJ Vorster, PW Botha and FW de Klerk. It might never
recover, unless it faces up to the need for a radical transformation
of itself to save itself – for starters a total overhaul of the way we
elect members of parliament.
The failure of the NEC to rein in Zuma is the worst betrayal of all.
It is the responsibility of the NEC to hold the president accountable
to the policies of ANC, as set out in the document “Through the Eye of
the Needle”, which requires unquestionable conduct and maximum
discipline from leaders. They are expected to be exemplary.
What example is the president showing when he instructs Themba Maseko
to help the Guptas? The NEC was supposed to call him to order. But
what do they do? They support him as he breaks each and every
principle of the ANC.
What example are they setting?
This is the worst betrayal, comrade secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.
Never deceive yourself and blame others for your own shortcomings.
Take responsibility for the mess happening in front of your eyes.
Can members of National Assembly save the day?
It is now left to ANC MPs to save the country from the continued
looting of the country under the leadership of President Zuma whilst
the SG and his colleagues in the top six appear paralysed and
helpless. Ideally, they should have reined in the president. They
should have pulled him into order, but like other cowards they too
kept mum. But since the NEC supported the president, never mind his
trampling on the constitution, it is left to ANC members of the
National Assembly to remove him from office.
These ANC MPs are being told not to betray the ANC or Zuma. But truth
be told, Zuma has betrayed the country by handing over power to the
Guptas under the nose of the SG.
What is your understanding of the worst betrayal comrade SG, if
handing over power to a foreign family is not the worst?
If ANC MPs vote with the opposition to remove Zuma as the country’s
president, that will be good for the country because the SG has failed
the country to stop Zuma and family from looting state assets.
The ANC top six should have stopped him from destroying the country
and the ANC, and it would have saved the MPs from being a last line of
defence of the constitution and having the task of removing President
Zuma.
Of course the terrible flaw in South Africa’s electoral law, makes the
ruling party MPs captives of Luthuli House, since they are all
appointees from party headquarters, which can remove any of them in a
second. Their careers, their salaries and their pensions are hostage
to the secretary-general, acting as the president’s fixer-in-chief.
None of our MPs are directly elected by the people so they have none
of the protections that a constituency system gives by law to MPs
until the next election.
So, instead of creating brave and independent-minded representatives
of the voters, our political system has created a culture of political
slavishness in the National Assembly which should shame every black
person in this country.
Was it all for this that the ANC was founded 105 years ago?
We have now regressed to a situation where democratic mass action by
the people themselves outside parliament is the only way to win
universal franchise, though this time we need action that is peaceful
and constitutional.
We must rely on the collective power and wisdom of the masses to save
the country and the ANC.
We have no option but to continue organising mass actions to remove
Zuma at the earliest possible time and also to reform the electoral
laws.
I speak of mass actions similar those organised by the United
Democratic Front in the 1980s which will help conscientise the
population to the fact that the way forward is to establish a properly
constituted constitutional democracy through electoral reform.
By reforming the electoral laws we will empower the population to
elect and select the best candidates from the population to lead the
country in all the respective spheres of state and government. We must
establish individual accountability of politicians without exception.
The fundamental issue is to establish individual accountability from
the bottom up: ward councillors, mayors, the provincial members of
parliament, the premiers, national MPs and the president at the top.
Every politician must be held individually accountable by his/her
local community in the area where he/she comes from.
This is why I propose a system of large multi-member constituencies
(MMCs) in line with the recommendations made by Dr Frederik van Zyl
Slabbert’s electoral task team report of 2003.
That task team recommended that 75% of MPs should be elected directly
by constituencies and 25% elected in the current manner, by
proportional representation.
Local party branches will then have a level of power they have never
had since 1994; to select candidates they know and trust to stand for
election to provincial legislatures and National Assembly, and whom
they can de-select at the next election if their candidates fail the
people.
In this way, the voters will get final choice of who becomes an MP,
not Luthuli House, and the integrity of the MP will be protected by
the constituency, not pawned out to the Guptas.
This is the only way to render ineffective the impact of fraud and
gerrymandering in internal party elections, going on to affect the
national politics. We will then be able to eliminate the impact of
vote-rigging within political parties, as happens now as a matter of
routine within the ANC.
South Africa will then be able to begin to regain its lost moral
integrity – something that now lies trampled in the dirt.
Omry Makgoale is rank and file member of the ANC. This is his personal
opinion
https://t.co/TJDFhamc1N
--
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com