On Tuesday evening, after the publication of a report by Daily Maverick and News24 about the lifestyle of then justice minister Thembi Simelane, President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement saying he was moving her from her Cabinet position. She has simply swapped with Mmamoloko Kubayi and is now the minister of human settlements.
This follows reporting about Simelane’s acceptance of money from Ralliom Razwinane, often referred to as a “fixer” in the VBS scandal.
It seems clear that Ramaphosa’s action was sparked not just by the original reporting about her links to Razwinane, but about the reporting on Tuesday about her lifestyle. As is clear from the facts presented, she was spending far more money than she was being paid while the mayor of Polokwane.
This is yet another example of politicians who claim to only receive a particular salary from their public office, and display wealth consistently and conspicuously.
The fact that Daily Maverick and News24 promised that more details were to come on Wednesday may well have led to Ramaphosa feeling he had to act. He would not have known what information was coming, but could have feared that it would be damaging.
Read more: Ramaphosa axes Simelane as justice minister — but keeps her in the Cabinet
The big question is: why did he not fire her from the Cabinet completely?
TimesLIVE has suggested the reason for this is that she has not been formally charged with wrongdoing. As one of its sources says, Ramaphosa has not acted against Deputy President Paul Mashatile despite evidence suggesting that he benefits from government money illegally, so he cannot now act against Simelane.
If that is the case, it would demonstrate that Ramaphosa can only act against someone when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) lays a charge against them.
Mashatile and Simelane join the ranks of people like Deputy Water Affairs Minister David Mahlobo, Zweli Mkhize and Malusi Gigaba, who continue to represent the ANC, despite strong and public evidence of wrongdoing against them.
Still unchanged
This does more than just suggest that Ramaphosa is politically impotent.
It suggests that the ANC has not changed one iota since so many of its leaders proclaimed outside courts in KwaZulu-Natal in 2008 that Jacob Zuma was “innocent until proven guilty”.
Read more: ANC veterans push for ministers and Members of Parliament implicated in VBS or State Capture to step aside
While the ANC may not have changed, the views of voters have. They have shown they have lost patience with the party.
This is all astonishing. It means the party and its leaders have learnt nothing from the results of this year’s elections.
Unfortunately, there are many other examples, often less public, where Ramaphosa lacked the will, or the power, to act.
Earlier this week, News24’s Carol Paton reported on the Financial and Fiscal Commission, which appears to be “mired in dysfunction”. As she wrote, one of the commissioners was recently convicted of child abuse.
Despite this, the person is still listed as commissioner and has not been formally removed.
Before the conviction, this person was reportedly “inactive” for four years. In other words, they did not play an active role but were not removed either.
If Ramaphosa and the officials around him cannot remove someone from an official position after their conviction for child abuse, then what hope does our government have?
ANC ‘renewal’
All of this is from a president who has stated many times that he wants to “renew” his party and ensure it is free of corruption.
If he is speaking the truth when he makes those statements, then the fact that he can’t act has huge implications.
It means that corruption will be tolerated in his government, up until the moment that someone is charged by the NPA. If that is the case, then simple immorality may be welcomed.
It also means that there is every incentive by those in government to try to weaken the NPA.
The fact that the justice department, which Simelane headed until Tuesday night, tried to put obstacles in the way of the NPA accessing the Zondo Commission database may well be an example of how politicians try to prevent justice.
Just this act might well have led to delays in the NPA charging Gigaba and Mahlobo and thus helped them to retain their positions in government or Parliament.
This also has important consequences for our politics.
One of the reasons the ANC lost so much support in the May elections was the sheer weight of the public evidence of corruption against so many of its leaders and representatives.
As has been said many times since then, it would be rational to assume the ANC would see it in its own interest to remove not just those who are found by a judge to be corrupt, or those charged with corruption, but also those seen to be corrupt.
This would mean that ANC leaders should be the ones leading calls for Simelane to be removed from the Cabinet and for Mahlobo and Gigaba to resign.
This suggests the main reason Ramaphosa has not removed such members is because he can’t, as they still have significant support in the ANC.
This would explain why Ramaphosa has implemented so few reforms and moved so slowly. It is because the majority view in the ANC is against reform and removing those who are corrupt (if Ramaphosa is speaking the truth when he makes these statements).
The only possible consequence of this is that the ANC will continue to lose votes, starting in 2026. DM