Zuma avoided Tyson, now Mbeki must void Erwin

“Accountability”, for the benefit of Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin and others, is the acceptance of responsibility for your actions and decisions — in this case, the national electricity disaster. It is a debacle that dwarfs all other problems facing this country and impacts directly or indirectly on the lives of every South African.

Opposition leaders, quite rightly, have been calling for the heads of Erwin, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (the former minerals and energy minister), Eskom chairperson Valli Moosa, former Eskom chief executive Thulani Gcabashe and present Eskom chief Jacob Maroga.

Since 1998 they, among others, have failed to respond to every warning light on the energy crisis. Accordingly, to allow them anywhere near any proposed resolution process smacks of a failure to grasp even the basics of risk assessment and crisis management.

It creates the perception, rightly or wrongly, that the people who were unable to deal with this crucial issue in the past are involved in making the decisions now. Considering the less than satisfactory answers we are getting to our questions on the subject right now, this is hardly a confidence builder.

In addition considering the ANC’s substantial interest in Eskom, any failure to deal with those responsible for the present crisis will again raise problematic issues. Do those parties have something over the government? Are they being allowed to stay on because of the ANC’s stake in Eskom and their role in achieving it? Why, in light of their part in the current situation, weren’t they summarily called in and given their marching orders?

Moneyweb‘s Barry Sergeant, meanwhile, has posed a couple of questions.

The government has only one course of action: Offer them the “opportunity to resign”, in order to avoid the rush of sackings which will follow if they don’t.

One of the major problems this country has had in the past is a lack of accountability. Without rehashing the same old names, here is the opportunity for a fresh start — the ANC has a new president, we’re in a new year and with a brand new national executive committee and national working committee in place.

This means that many of the new faces are not beholden to the old guard and can raise the issue of resignations — thereby relieving the current Cabinet from having to force the issue.

The country needs to see that there are a set of standards which politicians and officials have to measure up to — if the Eskom disaster is not grounds for sacking and more, then I’m hard pressed to think of any action which is worthy of sanction.

Short of nuking us, I don’t see how these people could have caused any more damage.

Yet incredibly, the parties most responsible for visiting an economic dirty bomb on South Africa seem to feel that they are being made into some sort of “sacrificial lambs”.

This in itself should be reason enough for their sacking. If they think that being in charge of this national disgrace doesn’t attract investigation and removal of those responsible, then they shouldn’t be in charge of the members parking lot, let alone a ministry.

In any country worth its salt, the parties responsible for a fiasco of this magnitude would have been long gone by now. The failure to remove them raises many difficult questions.

In England, Peter Hain’s resignation, for failing to declare a campaign contribution timeously, was expected.

And Tory MP Derek Conway was nearly annihilated for using public money to employ his son.

Yet Erwin claims that people are looking for scapegoats — as one of the parties responsible for costing this country billions and billions of rands he is suggesting that we allow those responsible to continue because finding solutions is more important than pointing fingers.

No, it’s not — while we are addressing the solutions we need to ensure that the parties responsible for this aberration are not part of the group making the decisions now. After all, when parties are repeatedly warned of a disaster of this scale and choose to ignore it, or fail to do what needs to be done, then it is imperative that those geniuses be removed and quickly.

They should not be anywhere near the ongoing process other than when they are summoned to answer questions regarding their conduct.

Or am I missing something here?

Jacob Zuma, for whatever reason, did not go to the Mike Tyson banquet. This is the kind of sensitivity to issues which will go a long way to restoring confidence in our leaders and the party. It says to the ladies of this country that the ANC president recognises that associating with a convicted rapist is a slap in the face for women and particularly the many victims of this heinous crime. It’s being seen to do the right thing.

Because we don’t elect individuals to a particular office in South Africa, the public relies on the ruling party or whoever appoints these people to those offices, to hold them accountable.

Let the government now be seen to be proactive in dealing with this issue. Do the right thing — remove the offending parties immediately. It will go a long way to restoring confidence.