Durban - Former ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Senzo Mchunu took the fight to Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s doorstep where he berated the governing party, saying poor governance was leading South Africa towards becoming a failed state.
Mchunu, an ardent backer of presidential hopeful Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, was speaking on Friday at the 30th anniversary celebrations for the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union in Pietermaritzburg, Harry Gwala region, which is the home of Dlamini Zuma.
He said the ANC needed to introspect, adding that the politics of the stomach had replaced the politics of values and principles that had helped the party survive for over a century.
“Comrades are expropriating the resources of the country for themselves, their friends and families. We get divided because some comrades stand next to those comrades because they want to benefit,” he said.
There was a difference between talking about President Jacob Zuma and challenging the ANC and government, he pointed out.
“We must end this thing of saying we are attacking a comrade, it’s another thing if that individual associates themselves with that problem, we can’t save you,” he added.
Mchunu also questioned government’s commitment to ending corruption, saying government efforts amounted to “indicated right then turned right”.
In his long list of examples, Mchunu mentioned how the former chief executive officer of Eskom, Brian Molefe, who was mentioned in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report into state capture, was later “rewarded” with a position as a member of parliament.
“Then he cries on television.
"It was the first time I saw national tears because he cried so well we make him a member of parliament to represent us in what generations of our people in the country fought for.”
He took a jibe at “comrades in government” whose names were mentioned in book titled The Republic of Gupta: A story of State Capture.
“The problem is not the book, it’s about the comrades whose names are in that book.
"They are not challenging it, they are making us believe that it’s true.”
Mchunu also cited Bruce Koloane, who was appointed ambassador to the Netherlands after being suspended as chief of state protocol at the International Relations Department, following an investigation that revealed he helped the Guptas land a private jet at the Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria.
“That’s how much you punish him, you make him our ambassador?
"Those are signs of a declining state, where decay is setting in.
"You compensate those who do wrong,” he added.
Mchunu appealed to ANC members who will be voting delegates at the party elective conference in December to vote in a manner that will not betray the first president of a democratic SA, Nelson Mandela, and not to be “seduced by money”.