By Editorial
Nomvula Mokonyane has had a starring role, a sequel if you like, at the Zondo Commission into State Capture this week. For commission watchers it has been a fascinating excursion into half truths and contradictions as the evidence leaders navigate the most banal yet incredibly stomach-churning allegations of truly crass acts of bribery corruption.
Whether it is food parcels for the poor, which include the finest liquors or an ostrich-head-in-the sand approach to largesse which is doubly terrifying when displayed by someone supposedly appointed to as important a post as a cabinet minister and before that as premier, the commission has inexorably trundled forward.
Since August 2018, we have been transfixed as a nation by the raft of allegations that have been aired and the seeming mass of prima facie evidence that has been presented – and yet very little, if any, action has been taken by the National Prosecuting Authority. There has been no censure nor suspension from any other quarter either.
So, what then is the point of the Zondo Commission?
The unfortunate consequence of everyone doing nothing only serves to normalise the wrongdoing to such an extent that the nation feels numbed to the revelations and the guilty believe that they can behave with impunity.
The most obscene manifestation of this, has been the industrial level thieving and craven corruption shown most recently by the PPE profiteers, many of whom had only their political connections as their only commercial credentials.
It seems that far from being a balm to soothe our tortured and abused collective soul as a nation, the Zondo Commission is fast turning into an opportunity for some of our so-called leaders to role model the very real personal benefits of patronage, spurring on a frenzied feeding at the taxpayer funded trough for the next generation.
There have to be consequences.