ON CORRUPTION
One of the great mysteries of South Africa’s new democracy is the ever-elusive answer to the ever-more pertinent question: “why does President Mbeki not fire the Minister of Health?”
Numerous different explanations have been put forward, the most popular being the most simple - that he agrees with pretty much everything she does.
There is, no doubt, much truth to this. Certainly if Mbeki’s own track record on HIV/Aids is anything to go by, the Health Minister is simply doing his bidding. But there is another, less popular, theory, although by no means any less credible:
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is married to the ANC’s former Treasurer-General, Mendi Msimang.
(Mendi) Msimang formally took over from Makhenkesi Stofile (The current minister of sport and recreation) in January 1998; but, in practice, there was a period of transition which started prior to the ANC’s 50th national conference, in December 1997 – the same conference at which Mbeki was elected President of the ANC. Since then, and like Mbeki, he has of course been replaced (by Matthews Phosa) at the ANC’s 2006 Polokwane conference, which saw wholesale changes to the ANC’s NEC.
Nevertheless, while he occupied the position, as with Stofile, Msimang, Msimang would have been aware of every significant financial transaction to have taken place involving the ruling party’s national operation.
Consider some of the things that would involve: Oilgate (the channelling of R11 million worth of tax-payers’ money into the ANC’s 2004 election coffers via a public entity – PetroSA); Chancellor House (where government contracts benefited companies set up by the ANC); and Brett Kebble’s various donations to the ruling party and its youth league. And those are just the funding scandals to have made the light of day.
Were Mbeki to alienate Msimang, he would be alienating one the party’s most trusted and senior members and certainly one privy to a wealth of highly confidential and, no doubt, potentially compromising information.
The connection between Mendi Msimang and the ANC’s dubious financial track record is not a coincidence, indeed, understanding the relationship between the ANC’s financial needs and the way it conducts itself in government is critical to understanding the nature and prevalence of corruption in South Africa. The ruling party’s attitude to ‘fundraising’ has fuelled an environment in which everything is negotiable and principles have become guidelines, to be adopted or ignored at will. And while corruption is not a phenomenon limited to party politics, it is a disease that affects almost all areas of public life and the ruling party’s contribution to this situation is deeply significant.
To cut through the rhetoric and get to the heart of the matter, it is necessary to briefly return to Stofile and an interview he gave in 1997.
A good quote achieves two things: first, it is internally coherent - that is, it contains an important message or insight in and of itself; second, it speaks to a broader context - that is, it acts like a metaphor, illustrating a far more complex problem.
One such quote was made by Stofile, just prior to handing over the reigns to Msimang. In an interview with the Star newspaper, Stofile explained the ANC’s approach to fundraising as follows:
“There were a number of options (available to the ANC). One was the National Party option, which formed companies and gave them contracts which produced a steady basis of income. We didn’t think that would be a good thing to do. We then considered joint ventures and also thought that they would not be viable and would be the source of conflict. We opted for the role of facilitators for black business in the country. There are black businesses whom we have been able to turn to when we’re in trouble.”
To fully appreciate that quote, you have to appreciate the context. By 1997, the ANC was on the verge of bankruptcy. As Stofile put it to the conference
| Posted on 23/1/2008
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