Wednesday will go down in South Africa’s history as the day good triumphed over bad, right over wrong, truth over secrecy; the day the ANC’s downfall became inevitable and South Africans realised: we’re going to be OK.
It was the moment it became clear that constitutional democracy, with its guarantees of a free press, freedom of speech, the rule of law and an independent judiciary, will triumph over the ANC’s politics of patronage, cadre deployment and corruption.
On Wednesday, ex-Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s state capture report was released to the South African public. It confirmed what we already knew: the South African state is in the hands of a criminal syndicate who use it as their personal ATM. President Zuma and the Guptas head up a public-private partnership that has been stealing billions of rands from our national purse, money that could otherwise be spent on tackling poverty and unemployment.
Essentially, Ajay and Atul Gupta managed to gain control of President Zuma. Once they had him doing their bidding, they were able to control the appointment of cabinet ministers and top managers of state-owned enterprises and thereby influence the awarding of state and state-owned enterprise contracts.
What does this mean for our democracy? Click here to keep reading about how I think the State Capture Report marks the collapse of the ANC and a renewal of our democracy.
Mmusi Maimane
DA Leader
