Former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize admits that he has been personally hurt by allegations of his being underhanded in what has become the Digital Vibes scandal.
Mkhize, who is in the running to replace President Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president at the party’s December conference, says he understands the outrage but still maintains that the processes already at play and those that will follow will vindicate him.
He feels he does not get enough credit for having initiated the process that eventually led to the public getting to know about the communications company linked to his former staff members and from which his son financially benefited.
“When this whole process started, I initiated this investigation. I did what I thought was important for an accountable leader to do, which was to refer the SIU report to the president and co-operated with the process.
“When I found out there was something that referred to the family and other staff members that were involved, I then decided to withdraw from participating at that level. I think I handled this process in a manner that would make anybody who comes across the same situation should do; be accountable and also be ready to go through the processes of investigations.
“As it turns out, we were ready to discipline the staff and recover the money, and out of that process the matters relating to my son were referred to parliament and the parliamentary ethics committee has cleared me on that matter.
“The SIU has said they do not have some of the documents that they said they based their accusations on. We expect that the court process will set aside that report.”
Mkhize accepts though that the public outrage was justified.
“As a person and a leader of the department and a public representative, I have reflected on it and it is clear to me that the outrage, the anger and the disappointment was justified.
“I think one has learnt lessons of always ensuring that you avoid the optics of any irregularity. I think that with all the lessons that have been learnt, I can only assure that one will be more cautious and vigilant as we move to the future.”
Mkhize is confident that the Digital Vibes cloud notwithstanding, he is the right man to lead the ANC back to its past glory. He accepts though that he is seeking to lead an ANC that has seen an erosion of confidence and trust that comes from it being deeply factionalised.
“I believe I can contribute to building the unity of the organisation so that it becomes a very potent machinery for delivering to the people. If you want to keep the party united, you must be very intolerant of disunity.
“The leadership needs to lead from the front. In dealing with factionalism you have to avoid, as we see now, someone who is leading would turn a blind eye to someone doing what’s unacceptable simply because they rely on them for position they hold,” says Mkhize.
Renewal for us means getting the ANC to link up with the values that were part of the founding of the ANC and must be a good reflection of those values as are seen in society. The ANC should not be seen as an elitist organisation.
Mkhize says factionalism has led to some ideas which would otherwise be rejected for their unreasonableness finding traction within the party because of factional loyalty. He believes that the lengthy party election ballot paper where a high number of candidates have raised their hand for the top six positions in the governing party reflects an appetite for change.
“Ideally I would have loved to have a situation where there was a candidate who was generally accepted that they’ll be the next president of the ANC without any contestation but in this case there are issues now on how this term of office has been conducted and people feel there needs to be a change.
“When people are feeling the strain of economic depression, recession, pain of unemployment, high fuel prices, food prices, they feel that something needs to be done. I think that is where the appetite comes from.”
Mkhize says renewal of the ANC means returning the party to its roots.
“Renewal for us means getting the ANC to link up with the values that were part of the founding of the ANC and must be a good reflection of those values as are seen in society. The ANC should not be seen as an elitist organisation, should not be seen as self-serving, focused on their infighting. They should be seen as a formation that actually carries the aspirations of our people. To bring all that back, we need the ANC to go through a renewal and abandon some of the negative characteristics that have made people feel alienated from the ANC.
Mkhize reckons that the lopsided concentration of the majority of the economy in favour of the minority is what “will give us a recipe for social upheavals and instability”.
“We need a leadership that is going to ensure there is an implementation of a number of things and policies. We need to fix Eskom. We need to have a balance between the use of fossil fuel and renewable energy and not create the impression that we can get rid of coal as a baseload generator for our electricity.”
For the economy to grow, the state needs to focus on areas that we need infrastructure programme, with private sector playing a key role in the building of public amenities such as hospitals, schools and expansion of rail lines.
“In 2010, the 1.6% growth in the economy was attributed to construction. You can, using a slightly different approach to financing, pack a five-year infrastructure delivery programme and get the private sector to commit to repayment over a 15-20-year period. That can be done; we have seen examples of such an approach.
“The idea of a social compact sounds like a cliché but the reality is that government and private sector can sit together and say in this area do we agree on where we are going to get growth and what do we need to and how many jobs we are going to create and then hold everybody accountable and go to area by area. You need a vigorous, focused intervention.
“If you don’t have that, policies don’t implement themselves. That’s what will make a difference when it comes to 2024. If we are not aiming to address any of those issues, it does not matter how nice or good the ANC is, people will not vote for the ANC. They will only vote for an ANC that delivers.”
MoyaF@sowetan.co.za
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