A few years back I wrote an article in which I was singing the praises of two national institutions that were doing us proud in the midst of chaos, ineptitude, thefts, corruption and other such shenanigans.
These were the South African Revenue Service and the Public Protector. State capture was in full swing and state-owned enterprises, such as Eskom, Transnet, SAA, SABC, the Post Office and others were being looted by Jacob Zuma’s friends, the Guptas, and their crooked partners in his government.
Thuli Madonsela was heading the Public Protector’s office while Sars was in the capable hands of Pravin Gordhan.
These two were indeed shining jewels in our collective crown at the time and their leaders, Madonsela and Gordhan, were being pummelled and abused by the thugs bent on destroying these institutions. But they stood firm.
Gordhan went on to serve with distinction as minister of finance and later moved to the ministry of public enterprises where the results were mixed.
He is reputed to have been brash, stubborn and sometimes condescending in his dealings with those that worked with him. But what should not be diminished was his love for his country and his -hatred of corruption.
Now Gordhan has passed away and was buried on Thursday.
On Friday, September6, I travelled from Polokwane, in Limpopo, to Pampierstad, in Northern Cape, to bury Dr Gaopalelwe Morwa Motebe, who died in a horrific car crash.
I had worked with Motebe in Azapo, where he served with absolute dedication and commitment in various portfolios. He was a down-to-earth guy who had absolutely no airs. There was no way I could miss the funeral of this great son of our soil.
Motebe ran a surgery in Pampierstad and did sessions at the local Jan Kempdrop Hospital.
Pampierstad is a rural township and its poverty hits your every sense as you drive in and about.
Driving on its streets is an art as you have to navigate its multiple-choice potholes everywhere. Sober drivers zigzag as they choose which potholes they would rather risk going into while the tipsy ones betray their state by driving in a straight line.
The Phokwane municipality, under which Pampierstad falls, is undoubtedly doing a terrible job.
At the funeral, ordinary people stood up to testify about his kindness and the way he went out of his way to dispense health to all, regardless of their financial standing. Some related how he would examine them and write prescription for them to buy medication at the chemist. In the event they were too poor to buy that medication, he would give some from his pocket for them to do so.
These testimonies were eloquently echoed by the spectacle of the residents and even high school students of Pampierstad, by lining the path, all the way from the church where the service took place, to the graveyard. They stood in lines and watched in complete silence as the cortege zigzagged around the hazardous potholes.
An official from the department of health in Northern Cape talked about how difficult it was to get health workers to work in rural and impoverished -areas such as Pampierstad and how Motebe was an exception.
Now Pravin Gordhan and Gaopalelwe Motebe are gone, with that the loss of shining stars in our society.
We might be a society bereft of ethical and capable leaders, but from time to time we do produce gems.
Just look at the work Mteto Nyathi, the chairperson of the board at Eskom and his team, as well as the management of that entity led by Dan Marokane.
They have turned that parastatal around and listening to them talking is a pleasure, exuding as they do, confidence, authority and expertise.
We need more of them to turn our country around.
- Mangena is a former cabinet minister and former president of Azapo
