ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa says members who lobby in the party's branches for a change in leadership are corrupting the organisation.

He may have a point but his view that “lobbyists are the corruptive soul of the movement” cannot account for the scale of corruption perpetrated by ANC members.

After a barrage of reports almost every day, South Africans are inclined to believe that every government department  at national, provincial and municipal level is riddled with corruption.

And because it is the ANC that deploys people to most of the decision-making positions in government, the party is rightly associated with corruption.

Phosa, in his position as treasurer-general, must also know of the disquiet over the ANC’s finances. Examples include the shameful way the party, through its so-called investment arm, Chancellor House, stands to make a fortune out of the misery of  electricity consumers through its stake in Hitachi.

  There’s also the R18 million channeled to the ANC’s election campaign in 2004 via  Imvume Management. It is not anti-Zuma elements that are corrupting a pristine ANC. The party has been pretty rotten for a long time.

With leadership elections in the offing, members see key positions as opening the door to riches.

 To outsiders this takes on the appearance of another set of pigs pushing for their turn at the feeding trough.

If Phosa can’t see that, he probably has no  problem with the top-of-the-range Mercs spotted in various parts of the country, emblazoned with party logos and the inscription: “ANC – Celebrating 100 Years Selfless Struggle”.