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So President Jacob Zuma has delivered his ‘response’ to the public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on the R 246 million upgrade to his private residence- and what does he say? Um, he made a few vague references to ‘culture’ and concluded that his not commenting in detail on the report ‘is not reflective of the fact than I am accepting of the same’. Huh/ you might ask, and you would be right. For cloaked in Zuma’s non-response is a disdain for the public that would be the envy of Marie Antoinette herself.
Zuma sets the highest standards for unaccountability in his administration. The spy tapes set the tone. Their contents, we are told, are so compelling that they were enough to get him off the hook on corruption charges. So compelling that Zuma’s lawyers have visited courts at every level to keep them from public scrutiny.
The use of the very instruments meant to guarantee accountability to avoid accountability is another feature of Zuma’s time in office. Instead of answers, we get commissions of inquiry and reports by investigative bodies that provide a veneer of venality amid the looting.
The massacre at Marikana is a central example, an atrocity that remains unpunished to this day.
But Zuma is merely th3 high point of this disregard. As was stated recently by one of the executives of African Bank that says the Bank screwed its clients with high interest rates on loans they could barely afford, ‘f**k them, as he is preparing for an expensive holiday and an ‘entrepreneur’ with links to Zuma is paid millions upfront for water provision in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, but no water system is installed.
By contrast, Pallo Jordan, feel on his sword after it was disclosed that he had a phantom doctorate. In doing so, Jordan provides a flicker of light amid the gloom. He is an example that those in government could well learn from.
And the chances of them learning from that? Don’t hold your breath…….
