ANC POLICY CONFERENCE: REFLECTION & RENEWAL? NO, BUT TIME TO SHOW OFF RADICALLY TRANSFORMED DANCE MOVES!

The discussion documents have been released in advance of the upcoming ANC policy conference.  I wonder how many of you in attendance will have read, let alone understood the discussion documents.  To those who are in need of a bare bones simplified version, I am happy to oblige.  It will give you  the opportunity to at least engage in the discourse, and who knows, even impress your fellow comrades.  If so, you can then pursue more lucrative opportunities at the year-end elective conference.  

At first glance the discussion documents are sugar- coated in feel good lofty ideals that characterised the political movement of long ago, but no more.  

I do not wish to bore you with in-depth discussion details which may put you to sleep.  So, all you need to know is that the conference is supposed to be focused on policy for the good of the country, but it is now centered on the party's loss of power.  Although the documents profess the need for the party to engage in self-correction and renewal, the underlying message is one of paranoia and protecting vested self-interests.  This means that a litany of real issues, such as state capture, are essentially ignored.  So innately predictable, wouldn't you say?

Perhaps you will consider the urgent need to speak up in the name of renewal and self-correction.  It will be more satisfying than simply dancing the time away with  your comrades. 

THE IGNORANT ZUPTOID RUSHES IN . . .

Once again the spectre of underhandedness amongst South Africa's public officials has reared its ugly head.  This time it was Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's off-the-wall recommendation to Parliament to change the Reserve Bank's constitutional mandate.  Instead of the central bank's core role in protecting the value of our currency, its mandate would shift to protecting the socio-economic wellbeing of citizens.

Inasmuch as Mkhwebani's background lacks even less than rudimentary understanding of economic issues, it is highly unlikely she originated the recommendation to parliament.   Rather it is more likely she was fed Marxist voodoo economics emanating from Minister Gigaba's advisors - a witches' brew of ill-conceived and unrealistic economic policies.    Policies that Gigaba recognized could not publicly be advanced by Treasury, but which could, and have been set in motion to capture the Reserve Bank, one of the last bastions of stability and independence, with the cooperation of the Public Protector.

What other plausible explanation can one advance for the Public Protector's unwarranted interference in economic matters?  Can't think of another one - can you?

DEJA VU ALL OVER OVER AGAIN!

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane recently announced a preliminary probe into state capture following leaked Gupta emails .  According to her, a preliminary probe is a condition precedent to whether a full scale investigation will take place, if at all.  

The emails implicate government officials, state entities, and Gupta-controlled companies for crimes ranging from corruption, fraud, theft, racketeering to money laundering.

The ANC has welcomed the Public Protector's preliminary probe, because failing to do so will undermine "the integrity and credibility of our government and state".   Hypocritical hogwash indeed!  The ANC has for years turned a blind eye  to ANC government officials waltzing in bed with the Guptas. 

If the ANC was genuinely concerned with restoring credibility in government, it would align with those demanding the Hawks and the NPA do their jobs by vigorously investigating and prosecuting those who unlawfully enriched themselves to the detriment of the nation.  

The Gupta emails are a criminal investigator's dream as they are the smoking gun of incontrovertible incriminating evidence of egregious criminal conduct.  

Why then the ploy for a public protector's probe?  Simply to kick the can down a long road to nowhere to immunize those implicated from criminal prosecution. As Yankees baseball legend Yogi Berra would say "It's deja vu [in South Africa] all over again!"

GUPTA E-MAILS: WHAT NOW IF ANYTHING?

It is no surprise the ANC is calling for a judicial inquiry into state capture following bombshell revelations contained in leaked Gupta e-mails.   It can no longer turn a blind eye to a reservoir of evidence of looting of state resources under its watch.

On its face the ANC's call for a judicial inquiry seems reasonable.  Not so, in light of South Africa's dismal history with commissions failing to hold anyone responsible.  In the context of South Africa's political machinations, a commission to probe state capture is doomed, because it affords ample opportunities, as in the past, for those implicated to manipulate and subvert the very purpose for which the commission is intended.

The revelations are prima facie evidence of particularly serious crimes that demand investigation by the Hawks and prosecution by the NPA. Whether it will be a commission, a criminal investigation, or both, the scandal, like so many others, will be swept under the rug to languish and collect dust.  One is then left with the long-held axiom that white-collar crime in South Africa's public sector does pay handsomely.