Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of the former SA president, has put his head above the parapet to suggest the national dialogue has been called by the president because the ANC has run out of ideas on how to solve the problems facing the country.
He may well be right. Poverty is worse now than at any previous stage in SA’s recent history, and inequality is greater than it was when the new dispensation was agreed upon in the early 1990s and was translated into the constitution.
There are at least two vital topics that should, and could, be addressed during the proposed national dialogue. The first is the incompatibility of the values of the ANC’s guiding light, the tenets of its national democratic revolution (NDR), with the values of the constitution. The NDR is the justification for the illegal and unconstitutional practice of cadre deployment in the public administration and state-owned enterprises. As was found by the Zondo state capture commission, this perfidious practice oils the wheels of corruption daily.
The second topic is the illegal absence of a body outside executive control in SA to deal effectively with corruption. Despite being required, in binding terms, to create such a body in the seminal judgment of the Constitutional Court in the case now known as Glenister Two, the government has neglected to do so.
Tackling corruption properly will boost business confidence, thereby accelerating both local and foreign investment in SA. Doing so will create jobs and put an end to the culture of impunity for corrupt activities, which permeates activities in the state to the detriment of secure peace, sustainable progress and shared prosperity in the land.
If the national dialogue does not cover the wisdom of continued pursuit of the NDR as well as corruption with impunity in SA, it will be a waste of time and money.
Paul Hoffman
Director, Accountability Now
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