The reappointment of Dina Pule in cabinet as the new minister of social development has ignited a public backlash, and justifiably so. Pule’s return to the executive after she was removed in 2013 as minister of communications sends a troubling message to the public: President Cyril Ramaphosa pays lip service to the values of ethical leadership he so claims to uphold.
Ramaphosa campaigned for the highest office in the land on a ticket of renewal, promising South Africans that his government would restore public trust in good governance and integrity. But his latest decision to appoint Pule, constitutionally empowered as he is, simply betrays public confidence in the government of national unity that he leads.
The timing of the appointment of someone who was found by parliament and the public protector to have violated the executive ethics code to give undue benefits to her partner at the expense of taxpayers is baffling.
To make matters worse, Pule has not fully been held to account in a transparent process for her unlawful conduct that led to her dismissal from cabinet more than a decade ago.
Instead, after her removal, she has been gradually making her way back to the top first after being elected to senior ANC leadership positions in Mpumalanga and in the ANC Women’s League.
In 2021, Pule made a comeback in government when she was appointed deputy chairperson of the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency. All this happened even though she was found to have failed to disclose to parliament her relationship with businessman Phoswane Mngqibisa, who improperly benefited from R6m from the 2012 ICT indaba contract through Pule’s influence.
This, therefore, does not only make mockery of accountability in Ramaphosa’s government but also calls into question his commitment to the so-called renewal and clean governance.
The question that we all ought to be asking now is, what will stop those who were implicated in state capture and the Mandlanga commission and were subsequently removed from their positions from making a similar comeback?
If Pule could lie low for a few years only to resurface at the high echelons of executive power, what would stop Sisisi Tolashe, whom Ramaphosa disgracefully fired, from doing the same?
Pule’s return to government sends a troubling message that the fight against corruption and maladministration in government only exists in speeches and not in action.
The public has a right to look at the calibre of leaders that Ramaphosa appoints in his government and question his decisions and the leadership values he espouses.
