South African Elections 2014: Vox Populi – The People have Spoken

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 0 Comment

A Personal View  –  9th May 2014

Barring a dramatic event, the final outcome of the 2014 Election is already known with the ANC retaining power but with a reduced majority. The Democratic Alliance made substantial gains by increasing their share of the vote by 29.8%. Many of the smaller parties were all but eliminated with the Cope’s tally being reduced by 90%, the once powerful IFP by 44.4% and the ACDP by 33.3%. Even the much favoured Agang did not make an impression as it only gathered one seat, that of Mamphela Ramphele.

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The ANC: From Shining Light to Venal Shameless Kleptocracy

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 0 Comment

A Personal View – May 2014

Corruption is a concomitant of power. Once in power one is presented with temptations all the time. The formative experiences of the ANC members were as impoverished cadres doing the bidding of the party without expected recompense.

Once in power and adjudicating contracts often worth billions, the temptations were presented; first as a free trip with the family but rapidly assuming monstrous dimensions. That was to be expected but what was the result: impunity. In spite of far-reaching corruption in municipal finances for instances, not one single person has been prosecuted in terms of the Municipal Finances Act.

NOT ONE!

That is inconceivable. That is indicative of an indifference to the ongoing corruption and perhaps more importantly political interference in the prosecution of these cases.

What has South Africa inherited as a Civil Service, a venal, corrupt and incompetent body serving their own and their ANC’s purposes and not those of the people of South Africa.

The decline of morality in the ANC has been unprecedented: from dogmatic righteousness to self-serving venality. What a decline? One can sight Nkandla as an egregious example but surprising the ANC will be unaffected by its stench. The reason thereof is surprising – it is regarded as a middle class issue. Even Jacob Zuma stated as much in his defence during the election campaign.

The cornerstone of the ANC’s campaign was “We have a good story to tell”. Essentially it harks back to the accession of power by the ANC rather than focusing on the current malaise. Anything was better than Apartheid and hence the comparison is fallacious.

The litmus test of whether corruption is endemic is whether one has become inured to it. An unequivocal yes will ring out for most now skim the headlines dealing with yet another multi-billion Rand corruption case.

As they claim, a fish rots from its head and surely this is true of the ANC. At best, Jacob Zuma has an extremely tenuous grasp of the concept of ethics. This combined with the temptations of power have created a swirling whirlpool into whose vortex even the incorruptible and diligent are losing their inhibitions.

Apart from harking back to a glorious legacy, how else is the ANC addressing this malaise: the race card. A once proud organisation steeped in non-racialism now uses racist cant as an election ploy like its president did at Soccer City yesterday.

Its supports should hang their heads in shame at such shameless populism.

For all of the reasons enumerated above and many more too numerous to recount, the deeply-flawed ANC has to be given a bloody nose in the 2014 National Elections on May 7th but not by voting for an equally venal and corrupt EFF which has learnt the lessons too well from its original tutor, the ANC.

One cannot be indifferent to the results of this election.

The vox populi has to make a ringing endorsement for parties of principle and integrity such the Agang or the Democratic Alliance.