Poetic Licence: Moral theatre in the face of State Capture, ANC’s selective outrage

Fikile Mbalula stood before the cameras this week, full of fire and flourish, declaring that the ANC “cannot associate itself with dubious characters.”

The target of his disavowal was Brown Mogotsi, whose name now drips with scandal. It sounded decisive, clean, even righteous.

But the effect was closer to throwing a perforated life raft at a crowd already waist-deep in water.Because here is the rub: the ANC has long associated itself with dubious characters. Not only associated, promoted them, defended them, re-elected them.

So when Mbalula sharpens his tongue on Mogotsi, the question writes itself: what about the others?

The Zondo Commission dragged the nation through years of testimony, exposing the machinery of state capture. The final report cast its shadow across a wide field of ANC officials.

The party’s own Integrity Commission admitted that 97 of its leaders were named and would be summoned.

That was not yesterday; that was years ago. Yet the parade of implicated names remains woven into the ANC’s structures.Nomvula Mokonyane, linked in testimony to Bosasa’s gifts, still holds senior roles and has even sought to challenge parts of the Zondo report. Bathabile Dlamini, whose Zuma-era patronage was a case study in abuse, still holds influence in party debates.

Faith Muthambi, named in Zondo for her disastrous role at the SABC and GCIS, still flies the ANC flag.

Lynne Brown’s name, too, sits in the catalogue of those cited in the capture years. And then, of course, Ace Magashule, finally expelled after criminal charges made his position impossible, the exception that proves the rule. This is the problem with selective outrage. You cannot declare the waters poisoned only when a rival is drinking from them.

You cannot cry purity while sheltering your own loyalists from the same scrutiny. To single out one man is easy. To clean the house is hard.

The ANC’s habit has been to use accountability as theatre, loud words in the moment, silence when the curtain falls.

It is a kind of performance politics, where the script is morality but the subtext is survival. Citizens are not fooled. They know that sound bites do not mop floors, and press statements do not disinfect. So Mbalula’s outburst is not really about Brown Mogotsi. It is a referendum on whether the ANC means what it says.

If the party genuinely intends to disassociate from corruption, then the integrity process must be swift, visible, and impartial, applied to kings and courtiers alike. If not, then it is not the cynicism of outsiders that will finish the ANC.

It will be its own rot.The tide has already taken the public’s patience. The shoreline is littered with evidence that can no longer be buried. To throw platitudes at drowning citizens is worse than doing nothing, it mocks their struggle.

Patch the hull, or be carried away with the wreckage.For more analysis and commentary in vernacular, join the conversation on Rabbie’s YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/RabbieWrote?sub_confirmation=1