Although Mohamed Saeed rightly points out that effective discussions on how to save South Africa need to precede next year’s elections (The Mercury, May 30), unless there is agreement on uprooting the legacy of 30 years of ANC depredation, such discussions will be pointless.
Awareness of the collapsed state of governance is widespread. But expecting sound governance to result from defeating the ANC at the polls in 2024 is not going to occur because of the entrenched extent of ANC cadres in the civil service.
In his book Truth to Power, Andre De Ruyter provides insight on the depth and width of the swamp of corruption that prevents Eskom from functioning properly. The obstacles he encountered in trying to remove individuals guilty of gross negligence and dereliction of duty exposed the extent to which good governance is hostage to endless mechanisms and procedures.
Therefore, aside from all the manoeuvring concerning the formation of a coalition to succeed the ANC, what is needed is a firm commitment to the holding of Nuremberg-type trials to remove the looters and their inept cadres from the civil service, the SOEs and municipalities and convict them of their crimes. The destruction they have wrought on a once functioning country warrants nothing less.
Proper governance can be reinstated only by cleansing the Augean stables. Such measures would also encourage foreign investment and promote development. The likes of Elon Musk would no longer be deterred as he was when the ANC demanded a 30% cut of his proposed IT investment.
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