ANC flag outside Luthuli House. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen Whether one believes the ad hoc committee to investigate allegations made by Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi into interference in the police department is a farce, or a legitimate means to uncover and clean up the department, one thing is certain. This has forced the ANC and other parties to look at themselves in the mirror and take stock of their behaviour – it is quite the marvel to watch an exchange between someone like Xola Nqola and, for example, Robert McBride.
The ANC has always been home to people of integrity, just as it has accommodated those driven by self-serving intentions. This reality returns us to the enduring warning that absolute power corrupts. Time and again, we have witnessed individuals ascend to positions of authority, only to abandon principle and drift into excess.
While it is true that many ANC leaders entered public life as former political prisoners, sacrifice alone did not guarantee ethical governance. For some, the discipline of struggle never translated into the discipline of office. Equally so, a mindset persists in which imprisonment, defiance and underhanded conduct are worn as badges of honour, rather than cautions against abuse.
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When power is treated as entitlement, as opposed to responsibility, it gives rise to the growth of bad seeds. And today, here we are. The ANC often speaks of corrective behaviour, a song repeated with every approach to elections.
While it may be true reform efforts are stifled by nefarious elements, hope persists that appearances before commissions, oaths of allegiance and public accountability will galvanise members of sound moral standing. Such moments should spur them to insist on a genuine cleansing of their political home, rather than symbolic gestures.
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