Corruption 101 – Terminator 4 – The Rise of the Comrades

The science fiction movie, Terminator 3, The Rise of the Machines, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, may be dismissed as the work of a fertile imagination, until one realises that the theft of funds meant to help us fight Covid-19, by our own appointed executives, is harder to believe than any science fiction movie. The Terminator series which included the first instalment, and Terminator 2, Judgement Day, is about killer machines sent back through time. In Terminator 3, the machines have become self-aware and are rising up to eliminate leaders of the future human resistance. Welcome to Terminator 4 – The Rise of the Corrupt Comrades.

There are three bad, albeit unstated assumptions, made by the ANC in the post 1994 era. The first one is that, as a party that suffered being outlawed, attacked and punished, this would end after democracy, or when the ANC was in power. The second false assumption is that ANC arch rivals would always be white, and the third false assumption is that those attacking the ANC would always be from outside the movement. As things stand, with corruption levels and their impact, the ANC’s bitterest enemies are inside the party and hold positions of authority in government.

Like in Terminator 3, The Rise of the Machines, the daring levels of corruption we are witnessing are heralding The Rise of the Comrades. Their rise to instant fortune and riches is at the expense of the movement.  The ANC and black leadership in general are the primary targets of the comrades rising in corruption. This may historically be the biggest battle the ANC has ever faced. The ANC’s battle against pathological corruption among its own comrades. These corruption machines have, as a mission parameter, the destruction or termination of present and past leaders of the resistance to corruption. The president announced in his last state of the nation address that they would be stepping up measures to stop corruption. The battle will be a lot more fierce and complex than the president of the country may be expecting. These comrades are not just a bunch of naughty school children. They are Terminator Machines, and like all machines they have no feelings, and have amply demonstrated this fact.

The honourable minister of finance, Tito Mboweni, asks in his twitter account how anyone could ever steal aid that is meant for a pandemic to save South Africa and its people.  Short answer to this question – not someone who should be trusted with responsibility. We are paying for the cadre deployment where positions are not given on merit, but on party stripes. It is the result of asking taxi drivers who are good at their job as taxi drivers to fly a Boeing 747. Until we get over the romanticism of party status translating to qualifications this problem will sink us.

Since 2012 South Africa has welcomed over 2 million new university graduates. Reserving key positions to a fenced population of party role players, past or present, has the obvious effect of seriously compromising the talent pool, considering that party membership figures may at best be 700000 people.  At the same time it frustrates qualified youth who are outside looking in. South Africa has far too much talent to be handing out key positions to a potpourri of scavengers and vultures who are camping on the wings of a political line.

The comrades have been rising for years as corruption machines, robbing us of economic growth and directly causing junk status. The fact is that they are Terminators of the aspirations of a nation, and, in particular, of any lingering hopes that majority rule works, and that black people can lead a sophisticated economy such as that of South Africa. With 95% of the economy in minority hands, it is only through appropriate and frugal use of government spending that transformation can be accelerated and economic growth catalysed.  The Terminators shrink the purse available to spend by sucking it and stifling it like overgrown weeds. They reduce confidence in government, asphyxiate nation building and throw everyone’s future into jeopardy. Who knows how much of the R500 billion for Covid-19 relief, ends up benefiting the people of this country after the rising comrades have laid their claws on it. R100 billion may be a bit optimistic. The corrupt comrades, given the context of freedom and an ANC president of the country, are doing more harm to South Africa than apartheid ever did. And they don’t care.

There are several reasons why they do not care. The first one is that they feel entitled by virtue of being in the ANC. They feel that because they are part of the ruling elite, everything belongs to them.  Entitlement 101. The second reason is nepotism or tribalism and cronyism. They are offended by the prospect of significant amounts of money ending up in the hands of someone who is not of their tribe or circle of friends. They genuinely do not believe in the South Africa project of a non-racist, non-tribal, non-sexist society. They believe in a South Africa which only benefits them, their tribe and friends. The third reason why the Terminators do not care is because they see money belonging to government as not belonging to anybody. It is there for the taking to him who has the fastest means of getting it. The fourth reason is because they are charged with more responsibility than they can carry. The amount of money they are authorising is too much for their skills and qualifications, and they know they could never make so much money anywhere else. If they miss this chance they could live to regret forever. After all they are part of the ruling elite, there is no real precedent of anyone significant in the movement being sternly punished for corruption. Innocent until proven guilty is second nature to cadres and a blanket pardon for everyone involved. The fifth reason why they don’t care what happens is the simplest one. It is a wake up and smell the coffee reason. They don’t care because they have never cared and will never care.

To the rest of us ordinary humans engulfed by unemployment, poverty and inequality, lets brace ourselves for a desolate country dominated by The Rise of the Comrades.

27 July 2020

Comrade Controversy writes in his personal capacity. Post comments below.