The report of the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela has been out for some time now and we at last have some clarity on Nkandla.  Of course, the ANC’s point of view has wavered over the weeks from people describing her as ugly with a big nose, to a limited of ANC members reminding people that the ANC helped to draft the Constitution and to disrespect the office of the Public Protector is to disrespect the Constitution and the ANC’s work in that regard.  Of course, the ANC of today is very different to the ANC of the early 1990s and certainly less idealistic and with not much to be particularly proud of in recent years.  

The fire pool turned out to be a swimming pool, but like your swimming pool at home, it can double up as a fire pool when your house is burning down and the President, who had a keen eye over things, has really benefited quite incredibly from the whole project, despite saying that he did not want the changes and the upgrades and he never asked for them.  He did however make sure that his architect controlled the whole process and his architect then got paid by the State – or rather me and you in terms of the tax we pay- about R16 million for designing a house, a pool that stores water for fires and some rondavels.  It is an absolute disgrace, and in most countries around the world, one’s President would either be impeached or certainly have to resign after being shown either to have so little clue, if he does not know, or to have manipulated the process to such a personal level of benefit.  That of course is not going to happen here, but it is sad that the ANC’s approach to any problem is pretty much one of stand together, and never actually tackle a problem regardless of whatever that problem is.  It is quite hard to believe, as you look back now, that they replaced Thabo Mbeki to give us Jacob Zuma, and there really has not been any stop to the scandals over the years with many business deals involving his family, the non-stop embarrassment of the Gupta’s.  At the end of the day of course, it will all mean nothing – because the ANC will be returned to government with pretty much the same percentage of votes they have received in the past.  Its that type of voter complacency, and a respect for what the ANC achieved in liberating South Africans, that allows the ANC to forever live in a world of being a party who largely brought about the end of apartheid and not to have to worry about how they act now.  That is one of the great tragedies for South Africa and many African countries where people continue to vote blindly for the liberation party for 25 to 30 years before seriously considering their vote.  Ultimately, even as we have seen in Zimbabwe, the rural people still continue to vote for the liberation party and it is only the more educated people, who largely reside in the cities and the urban areas, who eventually vote against the liberation party.