Khaya Koko: The looting isn’t over until the fat belly sings

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“uOscar [Mabuyane] lo, ophethe le province. Sithi, ‘no looting aph’ePhondweni.’” 

(“Oscar Mabuyane is in charge of this province. We say, ‘No looting in the Eastern Cape’”). 

Boy, was this song way off the mark. To paraphrase a popular dictum: The looting is not over until the fat belly — judging by the Eastern Cape premier’s girth — sings. (As an aside, my own circumference leaves a lot to be desired. So, I really shouldn’t be body shaming. But no one is perfect). 

At the height of the July unrest, when more than 300 people lost their lives as unruly riots ripped through KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng, singer Asithandile released a song paying homage to Mabuyane’s maison for not partaking in the pilfering. 

The Eastern Cape — and its premier, Mabuyane — deserved kudos because, together with six other provinces, its citizens had shunned the shit show playing out in parts of the country, when thousands of livelihoods and businesses were destroyed for goodness knows what. 

What Asithandile and her angelic voice did not know was that, barely three months later, public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane would release a report that revealed how Mabuyane and his public works MEC, Babalo Madikizela, had literally looted funds meant to commemorate the life of struggle icon, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, in 2018. 

The two comrades, Mkhwebane revealed, each scored themselves a combined R800 000 from the R3.3-million that was set aside for the commemoration, with Mabuyane going all Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with his stash and renovating his house for R450 000. 

Now, before anyone asks why I did not write “allegedly” to describe Mabuyane and Madikizela’s pillaging, the Constitutional Court ruled in March 2016 that the public protector’s reports were binding until set aside in a judicial review by a court. So, suck it. 

This looting by leaders becomes more painful when you consider the pernicious poverty that permeates the premier’s province, with more than 645 000 of the Eastern Cape’s households living below the R3 560 a month barrier that denotes an indigent home. 

That the National Prosecuting Authority has shown the proverbial middle finger and allegedly (yes, now I can use the word) refused to prosecute Mabuyane, despite the Hawks confirming to the Mail & Guardian that the premier was ripe for the taking, spits in the face of people who experience the ignominy of relieving themselves in a fly-infested ditch. 

The Eastern Cape ANC, which also scored itself a cool R280 000 from the Madikizela-Mandela looting, will probably come out on top after the 1 November local government elections in most, if not all, of the province’s municipalities, judging by previous voting patterns. 

Paucity of political alternatives

Before anyone thumbs their nose at the Eastern Cape electorate, and snootily suggests stupidity on their part, it would be prudent to peruse the poor political alternatives vying for votes. 

The national opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, had its leader, John Steenhuisen, smirking to the world while a rabid racist rudely downplayed the genuine fears expressed by a black woman, Mudzuli Rakhivhane, about living with a cold colonial legacy that continues to oppress millions of black people. 

That Steenhuisen — who should surely be a contender for a male Karen — is (oh shit, “allegedly”) an apartheid denialist should not be a surprise to anyone, and is just one more reason why black people fail to trust a party that discards the brutal legacy of a repressive regime. 

In the red corner, meanwhile, you have the Economic Freedom Fighters’ pseudo-revolutionary, Julius “Juju” Malema, who spends his time riling at Caucasians one day, and then telling his “ground forces” to go vaccinate the next because “whites and Jews” had jabbed, which made it okay. No, I’m really not making this up. 

For someone who preaches from the pulpit of pan-Africanism — styling himself as the modern-day fusion of Thomas Sankara and Steve Biko — it was rather surprising (or not) for Malema to worship at the altar of “whiteness” and implore his followers to inoculate because the “land thieves” had done so.  

You would be more forgiving, therefore, to anyone who continued to vote for a failing organisation (yes, the ANC) in the Eastern Cape, given the lack of coherent alternatives to what is a pitiful party. 

I mean, in the Eastern Cape, which has a dire shortage of houses, the provincial government is as cool as a cucumber about the fact that more than R341-million meant for much-needed housing has simply disappeared through corrupt means. Nobody wants to be accountable for it; nobody cares. 

Worse still, the provincial government blew R23-million on land it could never own, despite there being a community that had won a restitution challenge after it had historically been forceably removed from its land by the apartheid government. 

Camel Rock, the same company that was (damnit, “allegedly”) involved in the lost R341-million, reared its ugly head again in the R23-million land claim; it was meant to develop houses on land which — yes, you guessed it — already had houses built on it.  

No looting in the Eastern Cape, Asithandile? 

The looting is not over until the fat belly sings. 

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