So we’re governed by the State Capture Party (ANC) and the White Matric Party (DA).
That’s what it feels like if you’ve been following the news lately.
Our honourable members in provincial and national government ought to hang their heads in shame.
Instead, President Cyril Ramaphosa chose to take the moral high ground when he appeared before the Zondo Commission this week.
He “came clean” and acknowledged that state capture was rife in the ANC government during his time as deputy to former president Jacob Zuma.
“It involved some members and leaders of our organisation and it found fertile ground in the divisions, weaknesses and tendencies that have developed in our organisation since 1994,” he admitted.
“We all acknowledge that the organisation could and should have done more to prevent the abuse of power and the misappropriation of resources that defined the era of state capture.”
You don’t say, hey.
He also admitted that Bosasa bankrolled the ANC’s 2014 election campaign.
But things have changed, and there was nowhere to hide under his leadership.
“Such members must face the full legal consequences of their actions. They cannot rely on the ANC for support or protection, nor may they appeal to the principle of collective responsibility,” warned Ramaphosa.
In other words: Yes, we were skelm. In hindsight, we should not have been skelm. In future, we must stop ourselves from being skelm.
Well, if you put it that way, then all’s forgiven!
Ramaphosa obviously knows a lot more than he is letting on.
Surely he could not have been removed from every Zuma WhatsApp group and mailing list, and missed out on every meeting with the Guptas and Bosasa?
In typical ANC style, he is covering up!
Telling half the truth is telling half lies.
But selective honesty is not just an ANC policy, it’s also the DA’s, especially when it comes to qualifications.
How sad is it that none of the opposition party’s top leadership have more than a matric certificate?
Now there’s a public witchhunt to establish who lied about their credentials and who lied by omission.
Bonginkosi Madikizela was caught out badly – he’d lied about having a B.Com degree.
After he was suspended as the Transport and Public Works MEC by Premier Alan Winde (who himself only has matric), Madikizela then resigned as DA Western Cape leader and as MEC.
Suspiciously, his CV only came under scrutiny after he threw his name in the hat for the Cape Town mayor post.
It’s a nasty business.
The party’s chief whip Natasha Mazzone was spared however, because she hadn’t lied outright about her qualifications.
Though there is plenty of talk about who may or may not have changed her online profiles and Wikipedia education accomplishments from “advocate” to “none”.
Eish, doesn’t the DA’s HR department check CVs?
The party rushed to her defence, saying “Mazzone did do her legal education training and she did do her articles. She dropped out of law school”.
After Madikizela quit, his partner, Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo, stepped down as the federal leader of the DA Women’s Network.
And so the exodus of black leaders from the DA continues.
The “experiment has gone wrong”, to quote former party leader Tony Leon.
Politics, integrity and race aside, it is disturbing how ready people are to defend people’s lack of qualifications.
“If you're good at your job, if you’ve got the experience, you don't need credentials.”
Really? What track record does Mazzone have in governance? How many constituencies and elections has she won?
“But Zuma only had Standard 2.”
Yes, so now we must set the bar even lower for our leaders. No university degrees allowed!
Would you go to a doctor who only did three years of medical school? Would you ride on a bus with a driver who didn’t have a licence – but years of experience?
So why would you allow politicians, whose job it is to see to the welfare of millions of people, represent you in Parliament?
Keep this up and one day your laaities will tell you: “But daddy, why must I study for a matric exemption when Zuma and John Steenhuisen didn’t need to?”