SA is a land of contradictions

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela File Photo: Matthews Baloyi

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela File Photo: Matthews Baloyi

Published Sep 10, 2014

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Judith February stumbled on the ANN7 South African of the Year ceremony, and was struck by absurdity.

Cape Town - What a place of contradictions South Africa is.

This past week saw the first ANN7 South African of the Year awards ceremony. It’s the sort of thing one stumbles upon on television.

The event seemed almost surreal as the Gupta-owned TV station (and the Guptas) sought to further imprint itself on the South African national landscape. The unbearable “extravaganza” provided some insight into our country’s many contradictions, the veneer that includes a litany of reductionist, vacuous statements that fail to capture the true heart of South Africa.

The awards honoured great South Africans from Hashim Amla to George Bizos. Amla might have been relieved to be fending off Australians in neighbouring Zimbabwe instead. Clearly no expense was spared and there was irony aplenty.

No more so than when Tokyo Sexwale, looking like someone straight out of gangsta rap, declared Mamma Gupta as the near mother of the nation as she stood woodenly on stage.

There was the usual tribute to Madiba and one could not help but think what he might have thought of this spectacle of politicians and Guptas on comfy chairs at the stage, some talking on cellphones.

These are after all the same people who were allowed to enter the country with a planeload of guests at Waterkloof Air Force Base because of their close political ties to the president.

No one has yet to take political responsibility for that single, brazen act which is probably the clearest indication of the capture of the state by the politically connected as there can possibly be.

To further conclude the contradictions was the announcement we had “all been waiting for”, that of South African of the Year.

As Thuli Madonsela’s name was announced, she could not have looked more gobsmacked. Of course, she deserved it, but she probably did not believe she’d be receiving it from “Gupta TV”.

So, what to make of this curious, contradictory event – just another day in South Africa where some form of glamour and shallow glitz papers over a multitude of errors and paradoxes.

Of course, less frivolous matters ought to be exercising our minds.

These days, we are turning to Parliament it seems. Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete blinked first and has decided not to suspend the EFF MPs as she threatened to do last week.

So much for the ANC’s comment that it would go to court to provide the EFF with a “free lesson in parliamentary rules”.

Well, it seems as if the Speaker might need a few lessons herself. Had she read Rule 52 properly she would have realised she was unable to suspend the MPs after the fact. The powers and privileges committee will need to do its work now, according to the constitution and the rules of the National Assembly.

Interestingly, the Nkandla ad hoc committee stalled given a lack of clarity regarding its terms of reference.

The opposition banded together and the ANC has now been compelled to deal with that again. The opposition parties want the wording to be clear so that there can be no confusion regarding the committee’s mandate.

Still, the ANC did not use its muscle and majority to ram through the terms of reference. It could have and has in the past – think of the arms deal and the secrecy bill.

Is this a sign it’s realising that now that it is up against Malema and a united opposition on this issue, it had better use its majority with care?

In other news, head of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Pansy Tlakula has tendered her resignation. This comes after a long battle during which she dug her heels in to fight Madonsela’s findings.

Last year, Madonsela found Tlakula presided over an “unmanaged conflict of interest” when the IEC signed a R320 million lease agreement for office space.

Tlakula’s decision is to be welcomed even as her downfall is a loss to the IEC and also to the friends she had in civil society where she was a champion of open government and freedom of information.

Our institutions and the values that undergird them are worth defending, no matter how difficult that may be.

Bantu Holomisa led a dogged, lonely fight to ensure Tlakula was held to account, as is the job of MPs who take their oath to the constitution seriously.

We need more of his ilk if we are to get through the murky waters of the present.

Cape Times

* February is a senior analyst at the Institute for Security Studies.

** The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Independent Newspapers.

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