ANC HAS LOST THE MORAL BASIS TO GOVERN SOUTH AFRICA

THE TIMES NEWSPAPER
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
By Reader
Feb 23, 2009

THE Carl Niehaus saga must be placed squarely where it belongs — at the feet of Gwede Mantashe, the CEO of the ANC, otherwise known as its secretary-general, and the culture of corruption and abuse of power and authority so endemic in the ruling party. — Moses Matsimbi, Garsfontein

When the scandal broke, Mantashe assured all that there is no dustbin for cadres of the movement — the ANC would help Niehaus to surmount the challenges he is facing and redeploy him within the organisation. A few days later, a young lady, also from the ANC, tells the same ostensibly gullible public of South Africa that Niehaus has resigned and the ANC has accepted his resignation because he had not disclosed everything about himself when he joined the ANC as an employee.

The practice and culture of patronage, nepotism, crony capitalism and so-called cadre deployment so dutifully executed by Mantashe and his national executive committee have spawned a climate and environment within the ANC in which greed, corruption and abuse of power and authority are rewarded instead of punished.

Comrades like Niehaus and Jacob Zuma are only some in a long line of characters of dishonorable repute in the corruption stakes. Poor Carl could only thrive in such an environment.

Still, it is taking South Africans for granted to expect them to return the ANC to power with an even bigger majority than in 2004. The sooner South Africans realise that the ruling party has lost all moral and ethical basis to govern, the better it will be.