It is a year since SA heaved a collective sigh of relief when former president Jacob Zuma eventually resigned. His departure came after nine years, but they were by no means wasted. Wasted implies squandered, years that had no purpose. Zuma had a purpose — destruction — and he achieved it quite spectacularly.
This week was a sobering reminder of these “achievements”, from stage-four load shedding to startling admissions about a crippled criminal justice system, a rise in youth unemployment and institutions on the brink of collapse. The aftermath of the Zuma presidency will be felt for decades to come, despite his Twitter charm offensive and continued blind support from questionable characters.
While plans to break up Eskom are not new, under Zuma the sustainability of the power utility played second fiddle to its use as a vehicle for corruption and looting. President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed shock and anger when rolling blackouts hit the nation this week. He told parliament on Thursday there is no single fix for Eskom, and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan said he intends holding those responsible for the deepening crisis at the utility accountable.
Eskom is expected to be bailed out again in next week’s budget, even though its R400bn debt already places the government’s finances and the economy as a whole at risk. The load shedding this week was attributed to substantial design and technical flaws at Eskom’s new mega-power stations, Medupi and Kusile. Zuma celebrated the opening of Medupi amid much fanfare, but it has now emerged that the construction and design of the plant was a mess.
Before the Mokgoro inquiry into deputy public prosecutions directors Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi’s fitness to hold office, it emerged that the national prosecuting authority placed “undue importance” on the notorious spy tapes when they took the decision to drop corruption charges against Zuma a decade ago. This was admitted to by deputy prosecutions head Willie Hofmeyr, who played a key role in the decision.
After a lengthy court battle fought by the DA, Zuma’s legal team eventually admitted before the Supreme Court of Appeal that the decision to drop the charges against him was irrational and unlawful. “I accept that I made a mistake by attaching so much value to the integrity of the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] and not sufficient weight to the evidence on the criminal case. I will live with that regret for a very long time,” Hofmeyr said.
Ironically, the integrity of the NPA is precisely what was destroyed under Zuma. Hofmeyr also admitted that a trend to prosecute those who were fighting corruption emerged under Jiba, Zuma’s key lieutenant at the NPA. Zuma’s ascent to the highest office also resulted in the disbanding of the Scorpions. In his state of the nation address Ramaphosa announced the setting up of a new investigative directorate in the office of NPA boss Shamila Batohi.
The erosion of capacity, deep factionalism, lack of credibility and ineptitude at the NPA was starkly exposed during interviews for the post of NPA head. Ramaphosa’s promise of renewal and retribution will remain a dream if the NPA remains broken.
Another institution counted among Zuma’s “achievements” is the SA Revenue Service (Sars), which continues to battle to shrug off the legacy of allegedly corrupt former commissioner Tom Moyane. His was one of the disastrous appointments made by Zuma, who interfered directly at Sars through meeting with dodgy consultants Bain & Company to “prepare” Moyane for the post. Bain and Moyane restructured Sars in a way that benefited only tax dodgers, organised crime networks and the corrupt elite.
As far back as 2010 Zuma said he believed his then prodigy Julius Malema, who was facing a hefty tax bill, when he claimed Sars had been looking into the financial dealings of the president’s supporters since 2007. Within a few years of these comments being made in an interview with the Sunday Independent, Sars had been purged of its leadership and its capacity had been decimated, bringing the organisation to its knees.
Retired judge Robert Nugent, who chaired the commission of inquiry into Sars, appeared before parliament this week and painted a bleak picture of the situation that still prevails inside the organisation. It remains hobbled by the leadership of officials appointed during Moyane’s tenure. To this day the executive committee running Sars is divided, inept and includes a smattering of dodgy officials who have yet to account for their role in neutralising Sars.
Nugent told parliament Sars needs a “clean sweep”, and this can only be done when a new commissioner is appointed.
There are many areas of SA’s political and social life that were deeply affected by the destructive Zuma decade. A year after his departure, we should remember that we are far from out of the woods.
• Marrian is political editor.
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