Talking the Talk: Nkandla and elections

As part of a new initiative called Vociferous Wednesdays, last night the Book Lounge in Cape Town hosted a talk on the Nkandla report and the upcoming elections. Organised by news site Daily Maverick, in partnership with Open Society Foundation for South Africa, the talk was hosted by Daily Maverick Assistant Editor, Chair Marianne Tham. The panel included Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Sam Sole from amaBhungane/ Mail & Guardian investigative team, Human Rights lawyer Mandisa Shundu, Ranjeni Munusamy from the Daily Maverick and Ndifuna Ukuwazi’s Zackie Achmat.

Sam Sole began by paying tribute to the late Mandy Roussouw for breaking the Nkandlagate story for the Mail and Guardian back in 2009, later referring to amaBungane’s legal battles with the Department of Public Works to access documents that proved the “banal excess of Nkandla” that was later confirmed in more detail by Madonsela’s report.

He then said that this level of corruption was not new that we had seen it manifest in the Arms Deal under Mbeki’s administration. Referring to Nkandla as a “physical monument to the nature of power” Sole went on to discuss the lack of accountability within the ANC, describing it as an “orgy of kowtowing” to the “big man of South African politics” and “a culture of obsequiousness”.

Sole added that as a journalist he had seen firsthand how power at this level operates and the key battle now is for institutions: the Public Protector and Chapter 9s, to stay independent. Mandisa Shundu referred to observations in Madonsela's report that she thought most obviously referred to President Zuma’s abuse of power, namely a “a toxic concoction of a lack of leadership, a lack of control and focused self-interest" and “licence to loot”.

Shundu pointed out that unfortunately Nkandla is not the first time President Zuma has been implicated in “a total disregard of the law”, going on to refer to his relationship with Shabir Shaik and his appointment of Simelane, which was found by the Constitutional Court to be irrational. Later with regards to the allegations generally and Zuma’s apparent lack of understanding of the National Key Points Act in particular, Shundu asked: How could he have not known? There was wide media coverage. How could his advisors not have alerted him?

With regards to the Public Finance Management Act, Shundu said that the Public Protector had found that the acting directors general in the departments of Public Works, Police and Defence had contravened the Act and although the report had not made it explicit, failure to comply constitutes a criminal offence.

Daily Maverick journalist Ranjeni Munusamy kicked off with some good news with regards to elections, reminding audiences to keep some perspective. “When I started off as reporter in the early 90s the province I came from [KZN] was steeped in political violence; we don’t have that now... One major achievement is the cessation of political violence”.

Munusamy then spoke of people being more politically aware, which is partly to do with “big political personalities like Malema lighting up the election trail”, controversy highlighted by the media and also civil society taking a greater role in actively engaging people.

She then moved on to the bad news, saying “the big tragedy of these elections is how little Marikana is featuring in discourse”. She added that while “the EFF was milking it” and that “Malema had the widows of Marikana at the EFF manifesto launch” the other parties and people attending election rallies were not bringing the matter to the fore, despite the fact that it was an act of state-sponsored violence.

She said that voters had short memories, that there was anger now about Nkandla and e tolls but what about the Waterkloof scandal, the state of service delivery and electricity cuts, adding that people would only experience rolling blackouts again after the elections in winter when they would recall that Medupi had been stalled.

Munusamy said that one of the most concerning aspects of the elections is that “the level of political debate is poor; politicians don’t want to engage with each other” which means the electorate is “deprived of gauging leaders against each other”.

Well-known activist Zackie Achmat then spoke of the “old order” being used in the new South Africa, in the way politicians are protected from accountability but also the actual old order still being present, namely in the managerial ranks of SAPS, which had become apparent to Achmat during the recent Khayelitsha Policing Inquiry.

Achmat implored the audience not to have double standards and that they needed to engage the social issue on the doorstep. “I don’t want people to say I care about Nkandla, but those people [living in Khayelitsha] can go shit in the bush” said Achmat.
He later added that he believes President Zuma should be impeached and that our Constitution guarantees protest action and that believe the rising number of protests are not service delivery protests, “they are political protests”.

The final panellist, Archbishop Makgoba, told of how he engaged with organisations such as Equal Education and the Social Justice Coalition to visit mud schools in the Eastern Cape and do a walk of witness in Makhaza to see the open toilets where he questioned the humanity of the conditions he saw.

Makgoba said that Madonsela’s work had highlighted the constitutional values of justice and that the “appeal here is to use this international scandal of Nkandla to ask: what am I going to do as a South African to ensure South Africans are respected?”. The Archbishop suggested that people possibly write a letter to the President, asking him “have you exercised your powers diligently... and in good faith?”

Makgoba said that he applauded the Speaker of the House, Max Sisulu, for creating the ad hoc committee that would be looking into the Nkandla matter. He hoped the committee would get to the bottom of the massive spending on the President’s private home but also hoped, “they will ask the President what his plan is to restore [public] trust?”

Makgoba ended by saying that political parties needed to be encouraged to be more moral and that Madonsela’s report showed the urgent need to return to our values because, “We deserve better”.

During the question session, Chair Marianne Tham asked Munusamy what we can expect from the ad hoc committee and she replied that the first meeting on Thursday 24th would most likely be “a fight over the mandate” namely whether they would just be considering the 3 page response of the President to the report, or the report itself. She added that Lindiwe Mazibuko would also push to get the committee extended as they currently only have four days to meet.

Earlier a member of the audience asked “What can the average citizen do to make a difference? What avenues are available other than voting?” with Makgoba replying that it was a good thing that people attended events such as this as it prompted people to want to know more. But that they should then do their research and get involved in something for the public good.

Vociferous Wednesdays will host interesting political talks at the Book Lounge on the last Wednesday of every month.