Africa
New South African leader fails the initial ethics test
Jacob Zuma is sworn in as president of South Africa in Pretoria on May 9, 2009. He has been criticised for failing to demonstrate commitment to zero-tolerance for corruption. Photo/REUTERS
Posted Friday, May 29 2009 at 18:31
In the end, Ndebele gave the sedan back, not because he considered it inappropriate to keep it, but because keeping it had simply become a political nuisance.
Put another way, Ndebele returned the car because he had been caught. Had the gift not become a political liability of national scale, he would have kept it with a free conscience. Here lies the problem.
As repeatedly noted, a gift that size would have been inappropriate even if Ndebele had already retired from public life. After all, as the premier of Kwazulu-Natal he had just done his job by helping the Black road builders and was paid adequately for it.
Yet, to the bitter end in the 2009 debacle, Ndebele did not express remorse; he never saw the enduring dangers of accepting such gifts. More importantly, President Jacob Zuma did not take advantage of Ndebele’s tribulations as an opportunity to set the correct tone of his presidency regarding corruption.
Zuma came to power needing desperately to illustrate commitment to the notion of zero-tolerance for corruption. His response to the Ndebele’s fiasco fell far short of that aspiration.
In addition to having to censure erring senior officials occasionally, Zuma needs to cultivate a culture of clean public service as an end in itself.
It may be a good thing that the Ndebele imbroglio occurred so early in his term to wake him up to the ethical perversion he is up against.
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Submitted by Wanjiku98Posted May 31, 2009 07:35 PM
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Submitted by mzeemoja
Leaders aspiring for leadership in Kenya are mirred in scandals from maize,oil, Angloleasing etc, Zuma has good company everywhere in Africa.
Posted May 30, 2009 12:08 PM -
Submitted by ashabaab
are we not being too harsh on msholozi here? i do not condone corruption, incompetence and immorality. i also do not think that zuma was the best that SA could produce. But that is the nature of politics everywhere-you do not get a Mandela every 5 years... I know the ideal thing would be for zuma to fire Sbu or force him (publicly) to return the car but I also find it acceptable to let Sbu follow his conscience (spp). How many of us would keep the car, especially if not caught by the media? Look at the UK...
Posted May 30, 2009 07:08 AM -
Submitted by gitaunation
Welcome to the club of mediocre African leadership South Africa! Join us Kenyans in being led by morons!
Posted May 30, 2009 03:57 AM -
Submitted by kajanakafupi
While i agree that corruption of any nature should not be tolerated, i have to wonder why this story was written. It only uses conjecture and i lack of fact or much thought which the writer should have had regard for...was there no other important thing to say on this page? This story is embarassingly trivial.
Posted May 30, 2009 12:28 AM
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South Africa is on free fall. Just like everything the african male touches. What is up with us? Soon the South African economy will do a touch down, there will be ethnic strive and we know the rest. How hard is it for us Africans to atleast ensure the rule of law? From family units to the entire continent, there is chaos. ashabaab, there is no commodity called conscience in Africa. Nobody returns anything stolen. And if you get it by force, they have machetes under their pillows and some machete wilding goons to protect them.