ANC national executive committee (NEC), national working committee (NWC) member and Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, who is on special leave, would have resigned by now if he loved the ANC.
But as we have come to know, those belonging to the grouping that acts as paragons of morality have proven stubborn when it is time to claim the moral high ground.
Mchunu was not going to be an exception, to be fair to the man.
Criminal cartels link
Despite damning allegations against the man linking him to the criminal underworld, Mchunu is still enjoying full ministerial benefits from home.
Over and above that, he continues to do ANC work as NEC and NWC member. Regardless of the serious reputational damage the party is suffering because of his implication in the ongoing revelations about the rot within the criminal justice system.
But some would legitimately ask, why must Mchunu resign when his boss — President Cyril Ramaphosa — did not do so during the equally damaging Phala Phala scandal, which hugely contributed to the ANC’s 2024 electoral losses?
Others will argue, rightly so, that these comrades do not love the ANC, contrary to their public declarations.
What makes matters worse is that NEC member Zweli Mkhize, one of those labelled as the bottom of the barrel within the ANC, has demonstrated deeper love for the ANC.
The Zweli Mkhize saga
Mkhize, confronted by the Digital Vibes in 2022, without being criminally charged, resigned from his post as Health Minister, where he was doing extremely well during the Covid-19 pandemic.
There was a theory at the time, which was hard to believe, that Mkhize’s problems were engineered to eliminate him from the December 2022 ANC presidential race.
He was extremely popular at the time, thanks to his Covid-19 heroics. And he was highly touted as a future head of state, until the Digital Vibes scandal.
Not to say Mkhize is a saint, but it is now extremely difficult to not believe that the Digital Vibes scandal was a manoeuvre from his detractors to eliminate competition.
Back to the subject matter, if Mkhize at the time could resign without direct evidence of wrongdoing pointing to him, why is Mchunu still a minister?
Mchunu is accused of serious crimes, if proven true, which will sink the ANC further into the political abyss.
The man’s resignation would not be seen as an admission of guilt. It will be a moral decision to insulate the name of his organisation from negativity.
But no, he is electing to dig in his heels and stick to his guns, even to the detriment of the ANC.
Presidential ambitions
Mchunu’s presidential ambitions are surely more paramount to him than the vehicle that could deliver him there.
What makes matters worse are the allegations that Mchunu is/was the incumbent’s preferred successor.
This might have planted an idea or reality in his head that Ramaphosa will ignore whatever recommendations the Madlanga Commission says as far as Mchunu is concerned.
Or better yet, maybe he knows that the Commission is a whitewash to clear him for Ramaphosa to pretend to have done something about the serious allegations against Mchunu.
While this spectacle is unfolding in full glare of the electorate on a daily basis at the Madlanga Commission and soon at the Parliamentary Ad-Hoc Committee, the ANC brand will take a serious knock and continue to shed votes on a daily basis.
Had Mchunu done the honourable thing from the onset after the emergence of the allegations, maybe the Madlanga Commission exercise would not have arisen.
One would think at least ANC leaders might have learned from the Zondo Commission, which delivered a devastating blow to the ANC’s battered reputation.
Mchunu is out to finish the little that is left of the ANC reputationally. He seems prepared to go down with the organisation instead of being the bigger man.
Jacob Zuma legacy
But then again, this is not new to the ANC. Up until his exit to form his uMkhonto weSizwe Party, former president of the ANC Jacob Zuma benefitted hugely from this phenomenon.
Despite years of scandal after another, the ANC defended the man and kept him firmly in the strategic areas of deployment within the state, including as head of state for a staggering nine years.
The incumbent has also had the Phala Phala dark cloud hanging over his head since 2022. But the mighty ANC rewarded him with a second term after the 2024 national and provincial elections.
Mchunu, therefore, might just be justified and have history on his side that this scandal might just be what he needed to elevate to the highest office in the land.
Absurd as the chances of this happening may sound, stranger things have happened before.
But one thing is for sure: the ANC brand will continue to suffer in the face of scandalous leaders who are too selfish to place the organisation before their personal ambitions.
