ANC appoints people to take taxpayer money

The African National Congress (ANC) deliberately appoints incompetent and corrupt individuals to public boards and state entities to weaken them. 

This weakness, particularly in governance, is then exploited to facilitate looting that enriches a handful of politically connected individuals. 

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) CEO Wayne Duvenage explained this tactic in a recent interview with State of the Nation. 

Duvenage said this is a systematic initiative conducted under the guise of cadre deployment and creates chaos at state institutions. 

“You see this deliberate creation of chaos to ensure that systems are not robust and strong. That is where the corruption happens,” Duvenage said. 

“That maladministration happens in state entities and, often, government institutions are deliberately maladministered so that plundering can take place.” 

While most point to incompetence, Duvenage said governance systems at key institutions are deliberately kept weak, and governance controls are not implemented as an intentional strategy. 

Efficient systems that follow proper governance procedures and controls would prevent corruption and the enrichment of political figures. 

“The people who control this sit in the ANC’s national executive committee and those who head up the cadre deployment process in the party,” Duvenage said. 

“You put people who are not up to the job, and sometimes it is deliberate so that plundering can take place and the manipulation can take place.” 

“This is where the cadre deployment engine rooms are to get funding to flow into the party through connected individuals.” 

Apart from appointing incompetent and corrupt individuals, the party also pressures normally ‘good’ people to look the other way when corruption occurs. 

Duvenage explained that very few people in government are actually corrupt. The majority are good people. However, they tend to look the other way. 

“Most of the people in these state entities look away. They are too scared to do anything,” Duvenage said.

“They might not be cadres, but they are selected not to ask the tough questions.”

Musical chairs 

Another phenomenon leveraged by the ANC to plunder state resources is what Duvenage describes as director musical chairs. 

This results in the same compromised directors being appointed to several boards, typically after wrongdoing has been discovered at one entity. 

“They play musical chairs at the ANC’s cadre deployment committee. They decide who they are going to appoint for various state entities and recycle the same people,” Duvenage said. 

“This process happened under Zuma and has come under serious scrutiny. That was exactly what happened with Dudu Myeni, for example. Zuma put her on various boards to manipulate and cause chaos.”

During the Zondo Commission, it was testified that former SAA chair Myeni received monthly illicit payments intended for former president Zuma.

In 2020, the Pretoria High Court declared former SAA chair Myeni a delinquent director, banning her for life from holding any directorship position.

Duvenage explained that this plundering operation is implicitly given the green light by those in positions of power. 

This is because they know that serious money can be made by siphoning taxpayer funds from state entities and may be used to fund election campaigns. 

“The modus operandi is that there is a lot of money to be made in these positions of power and government, so we are going to plunder,” Duvenage said. 

“Those in authority, including the President, are almost looking away deliberately and implicitly say that accountability will get in the way of corruption.”

Duvenage said he no longer believes the issue is a matter of political will, with the right anti-corruption policies waiting to be implemented. 

“If there is political will to get on top of corruption, it has to start at the top with the anti-corruption strategy,” Duvenage said. 

“This is just gathering dust. So if there is no political will, then no one is going to take a meaningful stance and fight corruption.”

Duvenage explained that this mindset has resulted in politicians and officials not knowing how to address problems, spend prudently, and ensure citizens benefit from service delivery. 

“People have been put into positions of power for a purpose. They are there to extract funds. They are there to enrich cadres, cronies, and connected individuals very rich,” Duvenage said. 

“Interest in fixing our government, in fixing our state institutions, in fixing our municipalities, is not a genuine one despite what many politicians say.”