Enemies of the poor: Is this what Hani fought for?

The Eastern Cape is one of our most beautiful provinces. It is a place where many of our revered struggle luminaries — Madiba, Chris Hani, Walter Sisulu, Steve Biko, Oliver Tambo — were born and spent their formative years.

Fourteen years after the dawn of democracy, it remains one of our poorest provinces, wracked by Aids and woefully underdeveloped. Little has changed in the years since the Transkei and Ciskei homelands were dissolved: the economy in rural areas is stagnant, forcing thousands of people to go to Cape Town and other urban centres in the hope of employment. Infrastructure is creaky, while many schools and hospitals suffer from a severe lack of resources.

Now the explosive Pillay commission report has been leaked, revealing in chilling detail the pillaging of resources that were supposed to be utilised to aid the poor. R200-million was pocketed by party fat cats including our Minister of Sport, the former premier Makhenkesi Stofile. The provincial minister of economic affairs and finance at the time, Enoch Godongwana, and the CE of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, Mcebisi Jonas, are also implicated. A further R250-million has disappeared, unaccounted for.

The Daily Dispatch phrases things perfectly in its editorial on the day it published the report:

It is a document that makes for appalling reading because it illustrates the innate disrespect with which elected officials held the poor of this province by reallocating funds intended to uplift the poor.

The Pillay commission report was passed from the now-fired Premier Nosimo Balindlela to President Thabo Mbeki more than a year ago. No action has been taken, and the report has not even been officially released — it has only seen the light of day thanks to a leak to the Daily Dispatch.

What does this mean? That Mbeki was covering for Stofile and his criminal cronies? Or is Balindlela fibbing when she says she passed on the report? Either is plausible, especially in the light of the Presidency’s prevarication over Jackie Selebi.

By refusing to take action on the rampant corruption in its midst, the ANC is effectively condoning the behaviour of politicians whose unscrupulous, criminal behaviour reveal a callous indifference to the future of impoverished South Africans.

Millions of South Africans were oppressed and denied the opportunities for socioeconomic emancipation by the previous regime. This is a trend that, for the greater part, the ANC has failed to reverse. Instead, certain of the movement’s members — as illustrated by the Pillay commission’s findings — have been using the public purse to accrue illicit wealth with impunity. This is stealing, and — indicative of our ruling party’s moral bankruptcy — it seems that such criminality will go unpunished.

Is it any wonder that we have an endemic crime problem when there are those in power who are crooks? These criminals are enemies of the poor. Hani and Biko and the many others who sacrificed their lives fighting for a better life for all must be turning in their graves.