As someone who has always leant left, I have never supported the DA. But intellectual and political seriousness requires that we acknowledge when an opposition leader gets something right.
We certainly do need a national discussion about the intersecting crises we face in SA. However, John Steenhuisen was right to say that the national dialogue proposed by President Cyril Ramaphosa cannot have any credibility while deeply compromised figures remain in his cabinet.
When cabinet ministers are credibly implicated in corruption or serious misconduct and remain in office it corrodes public trust and delegitimises institutions meant to serve the people, along with the system of electoral democracy.
It also shows there is no real political will to tackle the crisis that is steadily destroying the ANC from within and by extension the state. This encourages people further down the food chain to loot.
It is not surprising that we saw record levels of electoral abstention in the recent election. More than 27-million people were eligible to vote. Only 16-million were registered and only 8.6-million cast a vote. The ANC and DA together were supported by less than a quarter of the adult population.
The collapse of the legitimacy of the political class, and the electoral system, is undeniable. Yet there is no path to rebuilding democratic legitimacy without a visible, meaningful commitment to accountability. And that requires the removal of ministers who are plainly rotten.
Human settlements minister Thembi Simelane received a R500,000 loan from the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank while serving as an MP. She told parliament the money was to fund a coffee shop in Sandton, but she failed to provide documentation to verify this claim and her explanation has not withstood public scrutiny.
It is now clear that loans were issued by VBS to politically influential individuals — many of them in the ANC and EFF — not as legitimate financial transactions but to buy political protection, with no expectation of repayment.
The VBS scandal amounted to a systematic looting of a bank that primarily served rural poor communities, many of them elderly pensioners. Municipalities across Limpopo lost hundreds of millions of rand, gutting public services and devastating already marginalised communities.
The VBS scandal amounted to a systematic looting of a bank that primarily served rural poor communities, many of them elderly pensioners.
That any public representative was linked to this scandal is appalling. That one remains in cabinet despite unresolved questions about her role is an outrage. To steal from the poor is unconscionable; to remain in public office after doing so is a betrayal of everything democracy is meant to stand for.
The pattern of issuing “loans” to influential politicians was not incidental to the VBS scandal — it was central to its survival strategy. By ensnaring political actors in its web of illegality the bank was able to shield itself from oversight. Warnings from financial regulators were ignored and critical reports were buried as VBS tightened its grip on local municipalities and political figures alike. This was a deliberate campaign of capture, exploiting the intersection between political power and financial vulnerability.
Higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane has also come under growing pressure to resign after serious allegations of corruption and maladministration linked to the sector education & training authorities (Setas). Senior positions within Setas were allegedly awarded to people with political connections to the ANC, raising deep concerns about patronage and the misuse of public institutions.
The ANC-aligned SA Students Congress has now joined the call for Nkabane’s removal — an extraordinary break that underlines the seriousness of the situation. This is not just a matter of inefficiency or incompetence. Under Nkabane’s tenure the National Student Financial Aid Scheme has also become increasingly dysfunctional. Students at universities and technical and vocational education and training colleges have gone for months without food or housing due to delayed payments.
Betrayal
The 2024 academic year opened with protests countrywide and multiple institutions suspended classes due to unrest. Nkabane’s public statements have minimised these problems offering generic reassurances while the crisis has worsened.
As we mark the 70th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, with its vision that “the doors of learning and culture shall be opened”, it is a profound betrayal to see the higher education sector treated as a vehicle for elite enrichment rather than a means of empowering poor and working-class students.
Malusi Gigaba was a central figure in the state capture era who played a crucial role in enabling the Gupta family’s takeover of state institutions, including Eskom, Transnet and Denel. During his time as public enterprises minister he facilitated board appointments that gave the Guptas control over procurement decisions. As home affairs minister he unlawfully approved early naturalisation for members of the Gupta family, enabling them to entrench their economic and political influence with impunity. A parliamentary inquiry later found that procedures were not followed and that Gigaba had misled parliament.
Yes, in a brazen display of contempt for the SA people Gigaba was recently cleared by an internal ANC disciplinary process under rule 25.17, which deals with conduct inconsistent with the party’s values. The same process also cleared Zizi Kodwa, David Mahlobo and Cedric Frolick. This outcome is patently not credible given the scale and nature of the public evidence. Neither Gigaba nor any of the others should be allowed to return to public life.
Red flags
The red flags about Paul Mashatile, deputy president of the ANC and the country, are as bright as they are numerous. His lavish lifestyle — including luxury properties, expensive holidays and connections to tender beneficiaries — is at odds with his official income. Figures in his family and political network stand to benefit from the appointment of a new lottery operator. The lottery is meant to serve the most vulnerable in society but, like so much else, has been captured by an avaricious, shameless and ultimately predatory political elite.
We must not forget that in a sickening episode, Mashatile’s VIP protection unit was filmed viciously assaulting a motorist on a public highway, an incident that shocked the nation. Inevitably no real accountability has followed.
In 2023 reports surfaced linking Mashatile to a network of property deals involving companies and individuals who had benefited from state contracts. Some of these properties were reportedly occupied rent-free by Mashatile’s associates or family members. No credible investigation has been conducted into these links and the cloud over his financial affairs has only grown darker.
The cost of all this brazen impunity cannot be overstated.
The ANC’s internal disciplinary processes have also become a source of deep public scepticism. The party has repeatedly cleared its senior figures through opaque and questionable procedures. These internal reviews lack transparency, independence and credibility. They serve more to protect the party’s image than to deliver justice. Any meaningful renewal must begin by rejecting the farce of internal oversight in favour of public accountability.
The cost of all this brazen impunity cannot be overstated. When the public sees the same names cycling through scandal after scandal — always cushioned by party structures, never facing real consequences — it breeds deep cynicism. The message to citizens is stark: if you are rich, politically connected or hold high political office, you are untouchable.
Worse still, the failure to act against compromised ministers sends signals far beyond national borders. SA’s claim to moral leadership on global issues such as Palestine is compromised if it refuses to put its own house in order. Ramaphosa’s craven indulgence of open corruption is a gift to our national enemies, at home and abroad.
Simelane, Nkabane, Gigaba and Mashatile are the kind of political hucksters against whom psychiatrist Frantz Fanon warned us in such clear-eyed terms. If Ramaphosa is serious about national renewal, he must begin with the removal of compromised ministers. We owe that to the millions who have turned their backs on the ballot box in despair, the millions without work and the millions facing collapsing public institutions and services.
The struggle for freedom was not fought so that a new elite could steal from the people with impunity.
• Dr Buccus is research fellow at the Auwal Socioeconomic Research Institute and the University of the Free State.
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