Meanwhile, back at the trough

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Well said, Justice, it must feel good (and sad) to say "I told you so"!!!

President Zuma and pals keeping cronyism alive and well
Aug 1, 2010 11:23 PM
By Justice Malala

Justice Malala: Part of the propaganda around the ousting of President Thabo Mbeki from the Union Buildings in 2008 was that the government had become corrupt during his tenure. Mbeki was accused of paranoia and insecurity; of enriching his friends and sending his enemies to a political and economic Siberia; of turning state institutions into tools for his own use.

Mbeki's faults were trotted out at every turn as the ANC told us it was set on sweeping clean the mess he had caused.

The judiciary, the civil service, the law enforcement agencies and the tendering system needed to be cleaned up and a new ethos of honesty, efficiency and delivery needed to be put in place.

Those of us who pointed out that Jacob Zuma, then the messiah of both the Left and the "coalition of the wounded", was hardly the man to whom to entrust this new ethos were promptly told that our criticisms were based on nothing but hatred for the man.

Today, though, with 14 months of his presidency done, it is impossible not to worry deeply about the crony state that is emerging around the president of this country. If we all thought Zuma was in the pockets of the Shaik family, now we have to worry about how deeply he is beholden to other interests.

Evidence suggests that, for Zuma and many around him, the putsch of September 2008 had nothing to do with cleaning up the state. In fact, it had everything to do with removing Mbeki cronies from the trough and settling their own snouts in.

The story on the front page of the Sunday Times yesterday is a case in point and the latest of many such revelations.

Police commissioner "General" Bheki Cele signed a contract on June 1 to move his staff, the police minister and his deputy, and several police units, into an 18-storey building in central Pretoria.

There were several glaring inconsistencies in the whole deal.

The first is that the contract, worth R500-million, was not put out to tender. Treasury regulations are very clear on this matter: All contracts worth more than R500000 must go through a competitive-bid process. Cele, the head of the police, signed off on the contract despite this very obvious flaw.

Second, the contract was signed on June 1, whereas the building was bought by the new owner only last week. How could Cele have negotiated and signed a lease with an entity that did not own the building he was to move into? Cele's response to this was this mind-boggling statement: "Every day I sign piles and piles of documents and the lease is one of them. If there were any irregularities, maybe supply-chain management can answer that."

Our police chief clearly does not think he should start an investigation into this flagrant breach of the law. Who will investigate this investigator? No one.

The most worrying aspect about all this is that Cele's deal is signed with a businessman reported by the Sunday Times to be close to the new Zuma administration.

Cele and his team are currently in a building owned by the Encha business empire of the Moseneke family, seen as being close to former President Thabo Mbeki.

Promises were made by the Zuma faction of the ANC that the favouring of cronies would end when Mbeki went. The Cele deal and many other instances show otherwise.

Take, for example, the evidence that continues to come through that Zuma's own family seems to be benefiting from various deals due to his ascent to the presidency.

My fellow columnist, S'thembiso Msomi, wrote last week about Khulubuse Zuma snapping up deals.

"It is just that the lightning speed at which he has been snapping up lucrative business deals, especially since his uncle, Jacob Zuma, became president, suggests that he is benefitting mainly from his proximity to the highest office in the land," wrote Msomi.

Msomi could have added that other members of Zuma's family have now suddenly become sought-after businessmen and businesswomen. Zuma's son, Duduzane, is now, by his own admission, an "exclusive partner" of the Gupta family which - surprise, surprise - is bankrolling a new ANC-friendly newspaper. Zuma's daughter now sits on the board of the Guptas' Sahara Computers.

Across the government, it is now par for the course that those who benefit from state tenders are those who chose Zuma at the battle of Polokwane.

In Limpopo, for example, many legitimate business people seen as Mbeki supporters have fled the province because business only goes to business people linked to the Julius Malemas of this world.

The truth is that Jacob Zuma's presidency was never about clean government or ridding the country of an allegedly corrupt Mbeki.

The Zuma train was merely about taking their turn at the trough.

They have succeeded.
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OINK
OINK
OINK
 
What do you expect from the ANC? :D

This was never about "fighting apartheid" or "redressing the wrongs of the past" ... it's all about enrichment at the expense of the nation.
 
Sahara "computers" :sick::sick:

Sad state of affairs, how the heck does one move from being a taxi owner to ship building and oil over night. Disgusting use of political connections!
 
optimists would say that the opportunities are ripe.
which they certainly are.
but for how long, and at what cost?
 
Was the report on the Village Idiot not suppose to come out on the 31st of July?
 
Garyvdh said:
What do you expect from the ANC? :D

This was never about "fighting apartheid" or "redressing the wrongs of the past" ... it's all about enrichment at the expense of the nation.
Click to expand...

Seems to be a 'government' thing in general. Many would argue that the ANC is also only taking its turn at the trough after the NP government got fat at the expense of the nation. The only difference is that there's a lot more press freedom now, so it's not so easy for government to hide their greedy feeding anymore. Still, it amazes me that even though we all know about it and it's so widely publicised, they just keep on getting away with it.

Juice
 
Juice said:
The only difference is that there's a lot more press freedom now,
Juice
Click to expand...
Not for long. And now the second in command toilet cleaner in put sonder water's expense report are classified. Lekker open season on tax money starting soon.

What is the positive spin on this? They are just as corrupt and criminal as the apartheid government?
Does the ANC = the NP and KP?

Verrrry positive this news.
 
Juice said:
Seems to be a 'government' thing in general. Many would argue that the ANC is also only taking its turn at the trough after the NP government got fat at the expense of the nation.
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That might be true... I doubt it... but I don't know enough about what ministers earned back then and how they lived. It seems like they were reasonably conservative in their lifestyles and not ostentatious. But I was a kid back then so I don't know.

I do know though that they left us with a world class roads system and infrastructure. The police, while racist, were at least able to deal with crime. And corrupt politicians and civil servants seem to have been dealt with pretty quickly rather than promoted (Siphiwe Nyanda here's looking at you).
 
Juice said:
Seems to be a 'government' thing in general. Many would argue that the ANC is also only taking its turn at the trough after the NP government got fat at the expense of the nation. The only difference is that there's a lot more press freedom now, so it's not so easy for government to hide their greedy feeding anymore. Still, it amazes me that even though we all know about it and it's so widely publicised, they just keep on getting away with it.

Juice
Click to expand...

The NP are most certainly deserving of a lot of criticism, and self enrichment most likely happened on their watch as well, but I think that they at least made an attempt to perform their duties, which cant be said for most of the current regime.

The NP were mostly qualified for the positions they held, which cant be said for the current regime.
 
Ghazi said:
The NP were mostly qualified for the positions they held, which cant be said for the current regime.
Click to expand...

Now that would be an interesting study, qualifications by post , then and now, even now against other countries, particularly african countries.
 
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