LYBORN RIKHOTSO | We can’t emulate Singapore if we tolerate corruption

President Cyril Ramaphosa said his government would learn from from the Singaporean government to manage state-owned enterprises (SOEs). It could be a good thing if the ANC government could learn how to manage state-owned enterprises from the Singaporean government. 

All the state-owned enterprises are in a mess particularly because of corruption.  They have become cash cows for ANC deployees and their associates. They steal billions of rand from SOEs without shame. People who stand in their way are eliminated by izinkabi and the killers are never apprehended as politicians and senior police officers are involved in corruption.

The ANC inherited a functional Eskom from the apartheid government but it destroyed it because of greed. Yes, Eskom served very few white people,  while poor black masses were not catered for. In the late 90s, the ANC government was advised to build new power stations but the advice fell on deaf ears.

However, I doubt the ANC government could learn one or two things from the  Singaporean government given the magnitude of corruption in government committed by ANC deployees and their associates. Corruption in the ANC has been normalised and most party members and their associates see nothing wrong about corruption.

They give the lame excuse that National Party politicians were corrupt as they stole from the public purse.  Two wrongs do not make a right. The Singaporean government is succeeding in running its SOEs effectively and efficiently because it does not tolerate any form of  corruption by politicians or public servants.

For example, André de Ruyter provided minister Pravin Gordahn with names of senior ANC comrades who were alleged to be involved in corruption at Eskom but he refused to name them. He said De Ruyter should be the one to name them and he also said the report was not factual.

It could be true but given the history of the ANC of not acknowledging the truth even if the evidence is so glaring in front of them, it is very difficult to believe what they say.

Gordhan is protecting his comrades as usual. 

In our country corruption is tolerated and celebrated by many ANC members, their associates and supporters. ANC deployees and their associates blame colonialism and apartheid for loadshedding while the ANC government messed up Eskom .

ANC comrades and their associates alleged to be involved in corruption abuse the principle of innocent until proven guilty even if the evidence is so evident. Our government has tolerated corruption for too long and it will be very difficult to root it out.

I would like to believe that corruption committed by ANC deployees and their associates could have surpassed corruption committed by the National Party government in its nearly 46 years in power.

Until the ANC and its alliance partners come to their senses and discard the mentality of  “in order to pursue the greater good, you have to enable some people to eat a little bit”, we are doomed. What nonsense is this?

What does it mean to “eat a little bit”? If some are allowed to eat a little bit, what about the poor masses the ANC claims to represent? How do you measure “a little bit”? Is it a little bit to eat R5bn? Whose money is being “eaten a little bit”? Is it the ANC’s money or public money? 

OR Tambo and Chris Hani were spot on when they said that corrupt ANC comrades will be worse than apartheid masters.

Ramaphosa promised that corruption would be a thing of the past when he became president of the ANC and the country, but it continues unabated.

• Lyborn Rikhotso is a Sowetan reader