If one needed proof that the ANC’s leadership considers itself above the law, common decency and ethics, and only responsible to the party, it didn’t come clearer than the prosecution for perjury of former minister Bathabile Dlamini. Yesterday, she was fined R200 000 or four years’ jail for lying under oath while testifying to the Constitutional Court. Despite that, there has been no apology, nor an offer to step down from her post as chair of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL). On the contrary, an unrepentant Dlamini said in a TV interview she would make herself available for re-election and…
If one needed proof that the ANC’s leadership considers itself above the law, common decency and ethics, and only responsible to the party, it didn’t come clearer than the prosecution for perjury of former minister Bathabile Dlamini.
Yesterday, she was fined R200 000 or four years’ jail for lying under oath while testifying to the Constitutional Court. Despite that, there has been no apology, nor an offer to step down from her post as chair of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL).
On the contrary, an unrepentant Dlamini said in a TV interview she would make herself available for re-election and would await the decision of the ANCWL.
ALSO READ: Black Sash welcomes Bathabile Dlamini’s sentence although she dodged jail
That the league would countenance such a situation provides a crystal clear sign of how it also views those difficult – for the ANC anyway – concepts of honesty and accountability.
The fact that so many senior members of the party resort to lying when in difficult circumstances – normally related to some form of corruption or incompetence– shows an organisation which has long since drifted away from the principled path trodden by its founding members and those who fought apartheid tooth and nail.
Dlamini, you dishonour the memory of Madiba and all our other heroes with your arrogance.
