Politics is a dirty game and not all brooms sweep clean

While attention has been on Ukraine, the ANC has been quietly carrying out a “house cleaning” as it moves to rid itself of those within its ranks who try to twist its own internal processes to get ahead.

This would seem to be President Cyril Ramaphosa’s way of extending his war on corruption into the very heart of his own organisation.

And, indeed, the whole timeline of individual corruption starts at grassroots level within the party, as people cheat (or worse, intimidate and even murder) others to get themselves on to party lists for appointment as councillors or MPs.

The reason for this is not that these cheats feel the need to get into office to serve the people of South Africa; it is because, in the words of that common ANC phrase, they believe it is their “turn to eat”.

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The clean-up operation promises to look into the dodgy conduct of highly placed officials and even some ministers, who have been accused of “parachuting” their friends into key positions. Already, heads have rolled in some municipalities as the house cleaning proceeds.

There is another way to look at what is happening, though. And that is all about Ramaphosa trying to pull the teeth of the radical economic transformation brigade loyal to Jacob Zuma as the ANC heads towards its critical end-of-year electoral conference.

We wonder if that is not what is also behind the strenuous efforts to politically discredit Carl Niehaus by now deciding – 28 years after liberation and after Niehaus served time in prison for furthering the aims of the ANC – that he was never a military veteran.

We hold no brief for Niehaus but he sacrificed more in the struggle than did many in the current ANC leadership. Politics is a dirty game, though, and not all brooms sweep clean.