ANC's never in short supply of shady characters

The ANC’s never in short supply of shady characters in senior positions, whether in government or its party structures. One would be forgiven for thinking that the criteria for a senior leadership position at the moment is having a tainted integrity, character and morality — a criminal record or criminal charges would be preferred. Not long ago the self-confessed crook Carl Niehaus was appointed as an ANC spokesperson. The ANC pleaded ignorance to any prior knowledge of his unscrupulous background as his litany of lies was exposed by the media. It was too embarrassing to admit that they knew he was a crook when they appointed him. Not that that matters as he would have felt very much at home with the rest of shady characters like him within the ANC.

Now the current ANC spin-doctor, Jackson Mthembu, who is no stranger to controversy, also finds himself in trouble with the law. On the morning of March 11 2010 8am he was stopped and arrested in Cape Town for drunken driving. The arresting officers claim he was three times over the legal limit. The police probably did not need to test his blood-alcohol levels as his “phuza face” was evidence enough to raise suspicion. Drunk at 8am in the morning? It must have been one “lekker” party he was coming from.

In his moment of drunken stupor he chose to conduct an interview with the news agency Sapa on Malema’s racist tirade. Malema had in song called for the murder of white farmers and accused them of being rapists. In Malema’s defence “Dr” Mthembu claimed that Julius was quoted by the media out of context. In his state of semi-consciousness, he absurdly claimed that the racist song which incites violence against whites was acceptable as it used to be a revolutionary song. To rub salt to the wound he started serenading the journalist with the same song.

“Dr” Jackson Mthembu, the spin-doctor, as mentioned already, is a controversial character. When he was MEC of public works in Mpumalanga in 1998 he demonstrated his charitable benevolence by flouting the ministerial handbook regulations and purchasing for his fellow MECs 10 Bling-MWs costing R77 000 more per vehicle than allowed for. Despite having spent R2.3 million on cars; something which in terms of the Public Finance Management Act would be deemed “fruitless and wasteful expenditure”. But compliance with the laws is never much concern to most ANC public representatives as Mthembu was shielded by portfolio committee chairperson BJ Tolo who said: “It’s true that they didn’t follow procedures and that they should have waited for permission from (Transport Minister Mac) Maharaj, but there was no act of criminality here and no-one should crucify them for this issue.”

Mthembu at the time said that they (MECs) decided to ignore regulations on cost limitations because of inflation considerations and because there appeared to be confusion about the exact amount allowed to MECs. It appears ANC officials are always confused when it comes to issues of compliance. Recently Jacob Zuma claimed to have been confused on whether he needed to declare his interests as required by law despite the Code of Ethics being very clear in terms of who needs to make a declaration or not.

In May 1999 Mthembu was involved in an accident in the early hours of the morning in a state vehicle in Witbank. The car hit two traffic signs then smashed into a tree. He admitted to booking himself, his wife and an assistant into a luxury Witbank hotel while he organised local ANC election rallies when he owned a house in Witbank.

But Mthembu was not done. On June 11 2001 the Scorpions pounced upon him, arrested and pressed charges against him of fraud relating to the R151 million tender for the construction of the N4 toll road between Rustenburg and Zeerust. The Scorpions alleged that Mthembu and his co-accused, Rauf Iqbal, as directors or employees of the Pakistan-based company SKB, used a falsified letter stating that the SA National Roads Agency (Sanra) had awarded a R151 million contract to SKB, in an effort to obtain a performance guarantee of R15 million from Absa, when SKB didn’t even tender for the contract. The two suspects were acquitted of these fraud charges by the Pretoria Regional Magistrate Mario Jungbluth who said the state had to prove prejudice or potential prejudice to the complainants (Absa and Sanra). Because the complainants did not suffer any loss or potential loss the magistrate threw the case out which does not prove the innocence of the two accused. He promised to sue the Scorpions for “millions” but the never materialised.

Mthembu is another example of a member of the “Coalition of the Wounded” — those who formed a pact given their historical troubles with the law and their questionable standing in the moral and integrity scale. It is becoming increasingly clear that those who rallied behind Jacob Zuma for the presidency were not inspired by the pursuit of justice or promotion of particular principles but purely anger and bitterness at the effective functioning of the justice system. While some political careerists had identified that under Zuma it would be an opportunity to advance their personal ambitions of rising to power and controlling state resources. The culmination of all this has been rather disastrous: lack of service delivery, looting of state resources and overall ineffectiveness of government to tackle pressing problems.

With the ANC continuing to harbour people like Mthembu and rewarding them with appointments to senior positions, instead of making progress towards realising the aims of improving the general welfare of the people, we in fact appear to be regressing.