CAROL PATON: Cyril may get cross, but his state and party will stay corrupt to the core

If it seems like the country is drowning in corruption that is because it is. We knew that already.

The ANC has institutionalised corruption in so many ways it will be impossible to eradicate. It will make no difference how cross this makes President Cyril Ramaphosa and the extent to which it threatens his relations with Cosatu or his international standing and legacy. It is built into the system in both the state and the ANC and, as we have seen, Ramaphosa is helpless when it comes to reforming either of those.

Let’s look at the state. The Hawks are investigating damage to a multimillion-rand vehicle by a furious woman married to a high-profile ANC functionary. They previously investigated a woman who tried to blackmail a deputy cabinet minister over a sex scandal. Both of these are surely outside its ambit. In the Malusi Gigaba case the real crime is anyway likely to lie elsewhere: why does Gigaba not own his own car? Who lends a R3m vehicle to someone else?

Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is waiting for the Hawks to finalise investigations into the real criminals. Since 2018 it has been clear from the leaked e-mails of the Gupta family that they and key figures in state-owned entities (SOEs) such as Eskom, as well as cabinet ministers, were involved in looting the state. In November 2018 what had previously only appeared in news reports was formalised in a parliamentary inquiry, which found that top Eskom executives — Brian Molefe, Matshela Koko and Anoj Singh — and cabinet minister Lynne Brown all had a case to answer.

But apart from the announcement on Monday that Eskom and the Special Investigating Unit are going after them all to recover certain monies, the NPA looks no closer to bringing a criminal case. While the NPA has capacity problems — it lacks prosecutors with the skill and experience of drawing up a charge sheet — the Hawks, also decimated by the state capture era, seem to suffer from lack of judgment too.

Though corruption has seeped into and eroded the criminal justice system, corruption — or the predisposition towards corruption — has permeated the state in other ways too. State procurement, say the constitution and Public Finance Management Act, must be done in a way that is “fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective”. To this the ANC government has added a sixth criterion of BEE. This is built into procurement law and is fundamental to how tenders are evaluated.

The personal protective equipment scandal that is unfolding in Gauteng and elsewhere explicitly included empowerment as a criterion in awarding tenders. It should therefore be no surprise that companies that were established yesterday or had no record of medical supplies procurement popped up to bid, and did so at a premium. In fact, it was in keeping with the rules.

That some of them raised prices exponentially was immoral and possibly, though not definitely, illegal — Covid-19 procurement was exempted from the requirement of competitive pricing. That politically connected people benefited, in some cases hugely, was also immoral. But if the procuring authorities happened not to have a policy in place banning the relatives of politically exposed people, that was possibly not illegal either.

Corruption is also systemic in the ANC, beginning with who is deployed as a public representative. The more senior they are, the more they earn, but even ordinary municipal councillors, whose roles are deemed part-time, get annual salaries of more than R600,000. It’s easy work, but not everyone can be chosen. Those who do the choosing — in ANC branches and conferences — expect to be rewarded.

There are jobs for pals at all levels of the system. This too is institutionalised through ANC deployment committees, which decide who gets to work where in the public service and SOEs. This brings us back full circle to government contracts and tenders. With nonfinancial criteria such as black ownership in the mix, the financial ones are instantly diluted. And, because there is now an entire class of people making a living out of state procurement, favours are inevitably granted and must be paid for, both to individuals and in the form of generous donations to the party.

This is the open door through which the Gupta family walked, to their disbelieving delight. While for now that door may be more heavily guarded — there are now people of integrity at the helm of some of the SOEs — the door is still there. And as we have seen, it still stands open.

• Paton is editor-at-large.