Corruption SA - the almost irresistible tsunami

The common solution to the perennial conundrum of what happens when the “Unstoppable Force” hits the “Immovable Object” is that either the force must stop or the object must move. In the fight against Africa’s greatest evil, the big question is whether corruption is unstoppable and/or immovable. “Political hyenas” has to be SA's political phrase of the year. In grown-up politics, at any rate. “Bloody agent” may appeal to the younger types, but the fact is this year has really been dominated by one overarching issue: Corruption.

2010 is the year in which the fight against corruption gained a public and popular political hero, Zwelinzima Vavi. It’s also the year when those who may be corrupt, those who may be hyenas, started to make their own presence felt, started to use their considerable power. This is an issue that will probably dominate 2011, and will definitely become a big issue in the ANC’s big year in 2012.

It’s very easy to claim that this is all Jacob Zuma’s fault. He’s the President, and hell, it’s not like he’s clean himself. The full story of how exactly he escaped having to answer questions under oath about those “loans” from Schabir Shaik is in itself possibly a corruption story of the highest order. But the person (Mokotedi Mpshe) who made the final decision is now a judge himself, so we’ll probably never know the full full extent of it.

And having a head of state with that perception around him doesn’t make the fight against corruption any easier. Just look at the SABC. The man who ran it, Dali Mpofu does many a wrong thing, gets sacked and walks away with millions. Other people, in the lower echelons of the corporation are only human if they think well, I’ll just start my own company and start to bill the corporation as well. The same dynamic could easily affect our traffic cops and councillors. Hell, if he’s doing it, why not? And it doesn’t matter if Zuma actually did anything wrong or not; it’s the perception that matters.

But as easy as that would be, the fact is that corruption is a much bigger issue than just one man. Corruption, the hyenas, now have a momentum behind them that sometimes looks well nigh unstoppable. And that momentum started long before Zuma, it started almost before Mbeki. The fact is that capitalists, the filthy lucre-ites, got their dirty fingers into the ANC, and those vulnerable to such an approach, probably even before Nelson Mandela took his oath of office.

The real question now though is: Has this momentum become irresistible? Or is it a one tsunami that can be tamed? Most societies have a type of momentum to them that moves in ebbs and flows. Prohibition and alcohol abstinence took hold of the US for a while, and then let go its grip. Some countries in Eastern Europe flirted, very painfully, with hard-core socialism as a sort of foreplay to communism, before changing their minds. Here, capitalism still wins and as a result most of the rich are still white. The trends that gather momentum quickly and strongly are those that appeal to our baser instincts. Most people want to get rich, thus the “Clever Boys of the Alliance” (the SACP) have such a difficult fight on their hands.

Corruption, of course, appeals to a very base instinct, which makes it very difficult to fight. In most places, what seems to work is a division of power. That gift the US gave to the world of checks and balances is the one silver bullet we know of that fights corruption with some success. Not total success mind you, but close enough for us. And therein lies the problem. Our checks and balances are weaker than they should be: the ANC’s deployment committee has seen to that. The balance between the minister who sets policy and the government mandarin who is supposed to implement it is gone.

Nowhere is this more stark than in this year’s appointment by Zuma of Menzi Simelane to the post of national director of public prosecutors. By his own admission (during the Ginwala Commission) he is not someone who believes the National Prosecuting Authority should be entirely independent of the justice ministry. (The judge who ruled he couldn’t find the appointment was unlawful, only pointed out there was no evidence Zuma even thought about appointing someone else.)

The fact is that those who claim to be keen on fighting corruption, in which, based on their public statements, we have to include the likes of Zuma, Gwede Mantashe and the rest of the ANC’s top six, are not giving us any proof of real commitment. Time and time again these people have defended the ANC’s deployment policy, and time and time again they have claimed to be fighting corruption. The two are mutually exclusive.

The fact is, to quote Kofi Annan, “Anything is possible, if only we have the political will”. The ANC, at the moment, doesn’t appear to us, to have that level of political will. And without the ANC behind you, you are not going to change the momentum of this country very easily. In fact, it may be impossible.

Source: Daily Maverick

SABC board unhappy with new CEO

The new SABC board would challenge the appointment of former Telkom Media chief content officer Solly Mokoetle as its group chief executive officer, the Sunday Times reported on Saturday. An anonymous "angry board member" told the paper that the board would protest the imposition of Mokoetle as CEO. "This means that we won't be able to appoint our own CEO, as boards usually do ... Their appointment was very unfortunate and a flagrant disregard of due process," the anonymous board member said.

Mokoetle, who was the SABC's chief operations officer between 2001 and December 2006, takes up office from January 1 on a five-year contract. The board member said the decision by Minister of Communications Siphiwe Nyanda could plunge the SABC into "total chaos". Mokoetle's appointment followed a R11-million settlement by the broadcaster to former CEO Dali Mpofu in August.

Mpofu had taken the public broadcaster to court after he was suspended for suspending then head of news and current affairs Snuki Zikalala. Mpofu accused Zikalala of leaking confidential documents to the media. The board in turn suspended Mpofu on May 7 last year, saying he had no authority to act against Zikalala. In June, the High Court in Johannesburg dismissed with costs the SABC's appeal against reinstating Mpofu. The judge ruled that then SABC board chairperson Khanyi Mkhonza was caught up in the bitter rivalry between Mpofu and Zikalala, whose contract as head of news and current affairs ended in April. But in August the two parties reached an agreement that Mpofu would be paid out.

Source: Mail & Guardian

SABC appoints new group CEO

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has appointed former Telkom Media chief content officer Solly Mokoetle as its group chief executive officer, it said in a statement on Tuesday. "The decision to appoint Mr Mokoetle was based on his experience and a proven track record during the time the SABC was profitable, making him the most suitable candidate," the broadcaster's interim board chairperson Irene Charnley said. "The board is confident that his appointment will provide the required leadership to turn around the SABC while maintaining public broadcasting mandate."

Mokoetle, who was the SABC's chief operations officer between 2001 and December 2006, takes up office from January 1 on a five-year contract. His appointment followed a R11-million settlement by the broadcaster to former CEO Dali Mpofu in August. Mpofu had taken the public broadcaster to court after he was suspended for suspending then head of news and current affairs Snuki Zikalala. Mpofu accused Zikalala of leaking confidential documents to other media outlets. The board in turn suspended Mpofu on May 7 last year, saying he had no authority to act against Zikalala. In June, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg dismissed with costs the SABC's appeal against reinstating Mpofu. The judge ruled that then SABC board chairperson Khanyi Mkhonza was caught up in the bitter rivalry between Mpofu and Zikalala, whose contract as head of news and current affairs ended in April. But in August the two parties reached an agreement that Mpofu would be paid out.

Charnley said the process of replacing Mpofu was started by the previous board, and that it had shortlisted candidates for the position. When the interim board took over, it re-advertised the position "for the sake of transparency". The interim board recommended Mokoetle to Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda following an intensive interviewing process.

Mokoetle left the SABC in December 2006 following a 12-year stint there. He started working at the SABC in 1994 on his return from exile as one of the team of executives assigned to transform the SABC from state broadcaster to a "true national public broadcaster". "He performed various leadership functions within the radio and television services and ended up as COO from 2001 until December 2006," Charnley said.

Source: Mail & Guardian