When Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo released his third report this week on the coup — a phenomenon characterized by the erosion of key state organs and the draining of the state treasury by the politically connected — the spotlight has temporarily returned to the SA’s domestic affairs. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we have been glued to our television sets, concerned about the implications of the Russian invasion, geopolitics and the safety of African students still trapped in the troubled Eastern European country. Zondo has now drawn attention to our bad governance – billions of public…
When Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo released his third report this week on the coup — a phenomenon characterized by the erosion of key state organs and the draining of the state treasury by the politically connected — the spotlight has temporarily returned to the SA’s domestic affairs.
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we have been glued to our television sets, concerned about the implications of the Russian invasion, geopolitics and the safety of African students still trapped in the troubled Eastern European country.
Zondo has now drawn attention to our poor governance – billions of public money lost to questionable tenders awarded to Bosasa and kickbacks paid to senior officials, with ANC heads such as former president Jacob Zuma, ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe, NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane and several others are involved.
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No one has summed things up better than National Congress of the People spokesman Dennis Bloem, who chaired the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services — a department that became a cash cow for Bosasa.
“We’ve been saying all along that it wasn’t just Jacob Zuma who was involved in the state capture and corruption project – almost all senior leaders were involved.
“That is why Zuma was protected and defended by the former Secretary General of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, and the former vice president of the party Cyril Ramaphosa. The Zondo report on Bosasa is deeply devastating to the ANC as a political party that profited from Bosasa’s corrupt money. We believe that the ANC should also be charged with corruption and money laundering – and should pay back any money they received through corruption.”
The release of Zondo’s latest report was expected to spark a new battle among those involved — now in a defensive mode, with the Jacob Zuma Foundation dismissing it as “not worth the paper it’s written on.”
The foundation has made laughable and false accusations that Zuma was never given a chance to defend himself. This, as we remember Zuma’s bizarre attitude at the State Imprisonment Commission of Inquiry – who appeared briefly but declined to answer questions.
After testifying for two and a half days, before refusing to answer questions and objecting to what he said amounted to cross-examination, Zuma said he would no longer participate in the investigation process.
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This led to the Constitutional Court ordering him to obey all appeals and appear before the investigation, which he did not do – and he was sentenced to two years in prison.
Now his foundation wants us to believe he has a rough deal. What nonsense. Now that the Political Party Financing Act has been signed, there is no hiding place for companies like Bosasa, which directly financed parties and influential individuals in order to obtain tenders in return.
The era of freedom to plunder and plunder the public treasury with impunity must come to an end.