South Africa's two main political parties vowed this year to restore credibility amid corruption allegations against their key leaders, and with elections next year looming, they are pressing the message that corruption is a key target.
The ruling African National Congress and embattled President Jacob Zuma have long been accused of corruption, which critics say has prevented the country from carrying out its basic responsibilities.
But Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma as ANC leader last month, said that would change. During a weekend visit to the coastal city of East London, Ramaphosa made a number of less-than-explicit criticisms of Zuma, who is accused of misappropriating tens of millions of dollars and giving undue influence in government to wealthy Indian families.
“These problems are exacerbated by a state power grab that has seen billions of rands illegally diverted to individuals,” he said. “Corruption in state-owned enterprises and other public institutions undermines government programmes to tackle poverty and unemployment and weakens those institutions.”
The ANC has dominated national politics for a quarter century but in recent years has lost support to the opposition Democratic Alliance, which won three major cities in the 2016 municipal elections.
Meanwhile, the District Attorney's Office has made its own ruling, accusing Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille of corruption using the party's own disciplinary process. De Lille reported to work on Monday, but the party has handed over many key functions, including the city's serious water crisis, to other officials.
In Johannesburg, the mayor announced on Monday that he would fire a senior city finance official amid allegations of nepotism and undue influence.
Party leader Mmusi Maimane told reporters in Cape Town on Sunday.
“The true test of a political party is what it does when it is faced with serious allegations of political dysfunction, mismanagement and failure to govern,” Maimane said. “The DA is almost unique in its determination to take on those challenges, unlike many of its political rivals, even if those decisions come at very serious practical political costs.”
Political analyst Ralph Mathekuga said these events may indicate that the two parties, which often try to position themselves as opponents of each other, may not be so different after all. He said he believes the words of both leaders are sincere, but noted that both parties face the challenge of aligning their parties.
He said the challenges facing the DA were “not that different from those of the ANC”.
“If you look at the allegations of corruption within the Johannesburg DA, MMC [member of the mayoral committee] “The fact that the finance minister has been suspended and allegations of misconduct have been made against Mr de Lille shows that prosecutors are also fighting internal corruption,” he said. “It also seems to raise questions about the integrity of the internal process for dealing with this issue.”
But he said one thing was clear: South Africa's political parties need to do a thorough internal cleanup before they can present shiny new faces to voters next year.
