Publication	Sunday Times
Date	2011-11-27
Reporter	Joe Latakgomo
Web Link	www.timeslive.co.za

The ANC, once the victims of apartheid, now imitate the tactics of their oppressors *1

If anybody asked me today what I thought of democracy in South Africa, I would borrow Mahatma Gandhi's response to the same question about Western civilisation and say I think it would be a good idea.

This week, when ANC members of parliament voted to pass the Protection of State Information Bill, it was done in the name of those millions of people who voted the party into government.

But surely this is not what the voters wanted? Surely this act cannot be democratic?

There are those who asked whether the media were not exaggerating the impact this bill would have on media freedom. Some government ministers even suggested that the protests over the bill were fuelled and funded by foreign spies and agents who want to destroy our beautiful country and get access to "our sensitive information".

It is this same scare-mongering which kept the National Party in power for decades.

It is significant that some of the people who led the spirited defence of the bill worked in apartheid government structures like the tricameral parliament. They obviously learnt well, working with the masters of oppression and deception. Men of integrity walked out.

The apartheid government told us that we were exaggerating the impact a law like the Internal Security Act would have, and that it would be used only to protect the state and the people of the land from terrorists and communist agitators.

We know better who it was actually aimed at and that it had nothing to do with the national interest. Many of its victims voted this week for the passing of the secrecy bill.

The apartheid government told us that the state of emergency regulations and the deployment of soldiers were in the national interest. We know now, as we did then, that it was meant to protect an evil system. Thousands of our brothers and sisters, and fathers and mothers died or disappeared, and the media were gagged by secrecy provisions in the regulations. Yet the ANC wants us to believe that the skies will not fall down as a result of the passing of the bill and that South Africans should relax.

The cancer of corruption is eating away at our society. It is not the media that say so; it is Transparency International, which says corruption is getting worse in Southern Africa. The police service was named as the most corrupt public service provider.

The government has found a public that are dissatisfied with their conditions. They are unhappy over service delivery. They are angry with the government over corruption. They see the arrogance of tenderpreneurs strutting the potholed streets, Johnnie Walker Gold and Blue under their arms, even as their own children die of hunger *2 and the frontiers of poverty close in on them.

The media have exposed many crooked tenders which have enriched the ruling elite.

Whistle-blowers are told they have to report wrongdoing to the police - the very institution that has been found to be the most corrupt - but they cannot be in possession of documents that could prove their claims.

It is YOUR money that is being squandered, money that could have improved your child's educational environment, your health services, your community services and your infrastructure. And the media will not be able to report on most of these corrupt activities. That is why the media are concerned.

Even during the dark days of apartheid, it was the media that were able to expose the humiliation of black prisoners. It was the media that exposed the government's information scandal, which included the illegal funding of a newspaper to "give the government's side of the story and report positively".

In spite of gags, the truth prevailed. It is the media that exposed the oilgate scandal, the police lease deals and many other corrupt activities recently. And it is the media that led the pressure for the government to set up a full probe of the controversial arms deal. *3

The media generally recognise public consternation about accuracy in reporting and are engaged in continuing efforts to eliminate errors. The public still trust the media - which is why whistle-blowers turn to journalists, rather than the police, to probe wrongdoing. That, at least, is a good sign.

The public have a right to know what is being done with their resources, and in their name.

With acknowledgements to Joe Latakgomo and Sunday Times.

*1       The ANC doesn't imitate the tactics of its erstwhile oppressor, it is the oppressor.


*2      Corrupters are murderers.

People in this relatively wealthy country, especially children, die of hunger, malaria, dysentry, TB, etc. because money for poverty alleviation, proper, housing, health care and education (the biggest alleviator of all) is stolen by the politically elite from the fiscus every day 24/7/365,25.

Probably upwards of 20% of the country's GNP is stolen every year in corruption.

It starts right at the very, very top and goes down to individual policemen, and municipal office bearers.

The old NP used to steal quite a bit too, but only about 20% of the tax revenue and the depth only went down to cabinet ministers and directors-general.

*3       Is it the media that led the pressure for the government to set up a full probe of the controversial arms deal?

I thought that that was Terry the Lion Heart, pro bonoed by Paul Hoffman SC, funded by Bob Glenister and factually supported in the Constitutional Court by self by means of a 76 page commissioned affidavit with 143 pages of supporting annexures.

Despite a few exceptions, the 4th Estate has actually done a kak job of the Arms Deal.

Unlike the Oilgate, Police Lease and Credit Card Licence Deals, where it has done excellent jobs.

The reason: the Arms Deal outranks the others combined in terms of expose of the elite and the magnitude of swill by several orders of magnitude.

Without the whistleblowers, corruption will triumph and hunger and sickness will prevail in our society.

The investigative media wouldn't even have anything to write and get awards about.