It is no secret that minister Mondli Gungubele is one of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s most loyal supporters.
Since the Phala Phala scandal broke out some months ago, Ramaphosa has been under pressure to take the nation into his confidence about what exactly happened at his farm.
Prominent in his corner has been Gungubele, one of the most vociferous defenders of the president’s silence on the matter.
On Wednesday, Gungubele sank to a new low while shielding Ramaphosa from accountability.
As MPs piled on the pressure on the president to answer questions on Phala Phala, he again refused, claiming he had been advised to not give his version of events at this stage to allow law enforcement investigations to continue.
Predictably, this riled up MPs.
Gungubele leapt to his boss’s defence, telling members that the president had in fact responded.
“You spoke and you have been spoken to,” he said in an attempt to shut down the debate.
The EFF’s Floyd Shivambu retorted that Gungubele was talking “absolute rubbish”.
Language aside, Shivambu was correct. The idea that Ramaphosa merely talking, in response to questions, should suffice as accountability is ludicrous in a constitutional democracy such as ours.
As a seasoned politician Gungubele knows this. Not only was his conduct a shocking display of arrogance but further demonstrates how the president’s allies have chosen to patronise the nation for the sake of political expediency.
The president has a duty to account to the people of SA on what happened at his farm, what he knew about it and whether state power was abused in his name.
The advice he has received to keep mum until a much more convenient time betrays the spirit of his oath to serve the nation with integrity, transparency and a common purpose to fight all forms of lawlessness.
As we’ve stated here before, the truth does not change depending on the platform and context in which it is said.
If indeed Ramaphosa has nothing to hide, he ought not to be concerned that his version, if said today, may compromise him in the future.
The president’s refusal to answer questions in parliament this week is an abuse of power and undermines the very principle of integrity he claims to stand for.
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