Chris Steyn (00:01.134)

The African National Congress is facing its worst ever pre-by-election crisis. With me is political commentator, Solly Moeng. Welcome, Solly

Solly Moeng (00:11.438)

Hello, hello, hello Chris. Lovely to see you.

Chris Steyn (00:13.966)

I'm sure you have plenty to say about the ANC and the IEC and the DA.

Solly Moeng (00:19.362)

Yeah. It's amazing, isn't it? I think that the key thing for me is that the IEC needs to show that it will treat everybody the same way. And the ANC must also respect processes. You know, I teach at an AU business school. If you haven't submitted your assignment on time, you are out. You know, there's a whole other process that we have to follow or not. You basically get failed.

So the ANC…must accept that somebody in the ANC made a mistake, they made a boo boo and ANC's administrative mistakes cannot be turned into constitutional problems for South Africa because they are not.

Chris Steyn (01:04.399)

Well, the ANC first blamed the IEC, but it has since admitted that it was its fault.

Solly Moeng (01:13.196)

Yeah, it still doesn't change anything. The fact is the IEC is a body that must act for everybody…the ANC must then deal with the people who are supposed to submit their list…I think it's about eighty one names that were missed by the process. They must deal with the person who didn't do their work. They mustn't make it a South African or an IEC problem - especially if the IEC can show that the fault is not on its side, it's on the side of the ANC - so that other small parties looking will know that it's not about who you are or how big you are.

This is a democracy where you don't have the powerful standing at the front of the queue and the rest saying at the end of the queue because the law, the regulations must apply differently to them. The ANC must just learn from it.

Chris Steyn (01:59.962)

Well, the implications are very serious, Sollyi. No wonder they are fighting so hard. Reverend Frank Chikane being left off the list in Johannesburg. Surely he was the party's only hope there

Solly Moeng (02:12.459)

Yeah. I'm surprised that he hasn't really said much, has he? I'm trying to find out what he's been saying about this.

Look, the ANC has always mastered the art of finding a face that could be acceptable generally. I mean that's how they found Ramaphosa. At the time Ramaposa was a smiling face, the friendly face…And then he became the Ramaphosa that we know today.

Maybe they thought, yeah, there is not a lot of scandal around Chikane. He's a man of God or man of the cloth but look, this is the same one who's been heading the ANC's so called Integrity Commission. I mean like what integrity.

So the ANC has run out of names that are credible, that can put South Africa first, that I have you know, a very, very clean record. I mean having basically played the role that he has played in the party's Integrity Commission for all these years. And it hasn't really given anything to South Africa that says, Yeah, at least they have processes and we can respect their processes.

Look, in our current political party system, wherever any party puts up a front, we still vote for the party. We must never fool ourselves. Even if people vote for Zille, they vote for the DA… people will vote for whoever the ANC is going to put up or for Johannesburg, hopefully not Morero, because he's failed so many times. Each time he opens his mouth, he fails…they will put somebody else.

Whoever is going to be there is going to be taking orders from the party's provincial structures, from the party's national structures, and the ANC has not shown any remorse about what South Africa has become because of the ANC. So it's gonna be what it's gonna be.

Chris Steyn (03:52.442)

Meanwhile, sorry, President Cyril Ramaphosa's impeachment inquiry is stalling again as MPs fight over the evidence leader.

Solly Moeng (04:02.721)

Yeah, it's I see that the EFF and the African Legal Association they've gone to say, Well wait a minute, we can't rescind the decision by Parliament to have this person rescinded, the Madonsela gentleman, to lead the evidence.

But look in the end you want to have a process where the evidence leader is seen and known to be neutral, you know, to respect the processes and not to be somebody who comes in there who might be judged to have ulterior motives. I don't think this gentleman does.

But the fact that Ramaphosa is trying to push back….Again, this whole thing is not about the law. It's about processes, preferences, pushing, you know, kicking the ball further down the line. That's what it's all about. In the end they're going to have to get somebody who'll come in there. And it's a public process, the public will see whether a person is prejudiced or not.

And the Constitutional Court has come back in April, in May to say, look, we have to revive this process. Parliament was wrong in 2022 to not to reject that panel report. We need to get the process going. Now Ramaphosa is using all processes, legal, you know, fear… to try and stall this thing. Suddenly Ramaphosa is using one arm of our State, you know, the courts to get the other arm of the State to stop Parliament which must do its work from doing its work. And it cannot be right because if it were you and I would not be having these conversations. Then the we'd be gone by now if we if we're guilty of anything.

Chris Steyn (05:41.436)

So would we be if we faked our qualifications, sorry, if I faked a medical degree like the DA councillor who is now set apparently, allegedly for promotion to be fourth in line for a seat in the City of Cape Town in the LGEs?

Solly Moeng (05:56.706)

Yeah, yeah. I think absolutely. I think because it's the DA, the DA has always, you know, put itself up there. And it I think it was right to put itself out there. You know, because South South Africans wanted to aspire for something better, for something that says we can still be that democracy. But the thing is if it keeps failing its own tests, because it can't keep saying, well, the ANC does this, it's not acceptable. You know, cadre deployment is not acceptable. Deploying the wrong people into positions is not acceptable. Not vetting people is not acceptable. But then it happens within its own rank.

I think again, I think South Africa is going to expect the DA to show this man that it's well and whoever vetted him or not, that this is not how it works 'cause if it doesn't act against him, it's going to be in trouble. Then… it's slowly slowly becoming the ANC…. it's an accumulation of things that are happening in the DA space that are making it harder and harder to distinguish from the ANC. I mean it's not there yet, but it will get there.

So somebody must put their foot down as a solution…. We didn't do the right thing. You can't be in that position, especially a fourth ranked position with the you know, the the history that we have of apparently and he admitted, you know, falsifying his qualification. Sorry, but bye bye. There are many other people out there that the DA can find to replace him.

It must lead. If it wants to lead, it must lead. And when you lead, you get called to make difficult conversation discussions decisions and this is one moment one moment when the DA has to do that.

Chris Steyn (07:31.683)

Talking about leading…The commander-in-chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters, it has become increasingly clear that he has to be hauled before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, Soll.

Solly Moeng (07:43.19)

Yeah, yeah. Malema…it wouldn't make sense for South Africans who trust the Madlanga Commission so much. And people say good things about like they want this mandate to be expanded, they want it to go after other people, they have to be reminded no no no but that's not in the terms of reference for this mandate.

But there are people who have been mentioned in there and they have not been mentioned, you know, beautifully…for the links that they have with some of the people who are suspected ….

I think the only thing that would be fair would be for the Madlanga Commission to call these people, including Malema. They must call him and say, look, your name has come up here. Can we clarify these? Because otherwise then we go away with more suspicions around Malema than was VBS. Malema has never accounted for being VBS.

You know, he's been called into these things. We see the associations that he has with all these really dodgy people. And it's and the common denominator is money, money, money. Right? Who funds the EFF? Where does the money come from? Who funds other political parties? Of course we can ask. But Malema's name keeps coming up. He must… if I were Malama, Malema would say, Well, call me. I want to come and clear my name there. And Madlanga must call him anyway.

Chris Steyn (09:00.239)

Solly, President Ramaphosa seems to be playing for time, not only with his impeachment inquiry, but also in acting against Special Leave Minister Senzo Mchunu. I think he is treading carefully with the elections coming up. He does not want to make any more enemies in the party.

Solly Moeng (09:21.047)

But the ANC has always been a fractionalized party. Yeah, of course Ramaphosa would want the people who are on his side to stay with him and you know, to see the next battle if you want with him. But Senxo Mchunu is hugely discredited. I mean it's only the DA, the ANC and parties that are close to the ANC that are trying to defend him in the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee. But this man is discredited.

Ramaphosa has obviously not shown to be a leader who stands for what is fair, who knows how to be firm when he has to make decisions that are good for South Africa. He needs to just get rid of this man. Maybe appoint the gentleman who's acting as minister. Make him minister of police until the end of his term.

Anyway Ramaphosa's own political term as leader of the ANC is soon coming to a close. We don't know what's going on with Mashatile; we spoke about him last week. Is he in good health? Is he going to be working? Is he coming back? If not, Ramaphosa will definitely want to play a part in ensuring that whoever succeeds him is not going to make life post-ANC presidency difficult for him. Is it Motsepe? Will ANC people accept Motsepe?

It's a difficult thing. But you know what? For me, they have to put what is good for South Africa first. This man has already benefited for more than a year of salaries while sitting at home doing absolutely nothing with all sorts of dodgy clouds hanging over his head. So he cannot come back. Whatever happens, he mustn't come back. They've given him enough money, he must go.

Chris Steyn (11:00.857)

Solly, what did you make of that dramatic courtroom scene between Cat Matlala and his advocate, Anneline van den Heever, or his mob lawyer, as some people call her? He really lost his cool.

Solly Moeng (11:15.053)

He obviously lost his confidence here. Yeah, he lost his cool. He almost slapped her hand away. I don't know what's going on. It's I don't know what's going on there. I really don't. He wanted to say something to her or she wasn't, she hadn't done something that he had expected her to do; she was losing it, he was losing it, and the and the at the same time the court officials wanted to take him down to his cell and then the judge was saying, No, no, but let let them, you know, consult, if they still have time to consult. I don't know what's going on.

I don't know if they can continue working together because that was not a very nice scene we've seen there. It's going to be hard for her to, yeah, to continue. Maybe they will, but I don't see them continuing. Then what happens if he decides he's going to appoint somebody else? Is it another lawyer needing more time to read the files? Because there are lots of them. The attempted murder case, stuff coming out of the Madlanga Commission. So where are we? We'll see. Matlala will tell us where he wants to go next.

But there's more drama than substance happening in our course right now. There's more process, more killing time, pushing stuff further down the road…it's almost like the Constitutional Court judgment has to wait for the political moment to end. You know, the whole thing then becomes just a ceremony. You know, it's like what's more important?

Chris Steyn (12:36.665)

But the way he gripped her arm so hard, she must have bruises from that encounter. Some people said afterwards they feared for her safety, but then others counted and said, well, with her connections, he's the one who should be worried.

Solly Moeng (12:50.349)

Yeah, and he didn't even seem to be aware the cameras were looking at him. Or maybe he didn't care like this is it, you know. I mean maybe that's a real him. I mean if you can act out in court…He's in a vulnerable position, he is a prisoner, he's going down into the cells. He knows that the T V cameras are watching him, and yet he still fails to control himself to do what he did.

Yeah, she's got connections, there's no doubt about it. I mean, she was at the funeral of the Big 5 Taxi Man. But look, it's a very murky world. The world that they live in, it's maybe - like the ANC - factionalised. You know, if you look at the underworld in Cape Town, how they kill one another, who's on the side of whom, who's taking business from whom, who's protected by whom. It's the same thing. It's this whole underworld thing that's merging into the public surface in South Africa. The rest of us are like okay, let's what's on which team here? What's going on? We don't, we don't have the answers. We're not going to have the answers until further down the road.

Chris Steyn (13:56.304)

Sorry, I forgot last week to give you space for a rant. So you are allowed a double rant this week.

Solly Moeng (14:03.183)

I'm just angry. I'm just angry that South Africa continues to be this Orwelian Animal Farm. You know, where some get justice, others don't, where some can use money and a lot of the money they use, a lot of the money they use is public funds. I don't think Ramaphosa is paying for all these processes out of his own Phala Phala couch dollars… he's doing exactly what Zuma did to us basically, spending public money, hopefully the next president will not ask him to pay up. You know? And that's what they do. So they're playing us.

If you and I did any of the things that these people who are highly positioned, highly connected, very many, are able to do, then then we'd be in jail, we'd be finished.

It shows that we have a system that is still not giving South Africans sufficient reason to believe that we live in a country where there's equality before the law…irrespective of who you are, whom you connected with, what money you have, the law is the law is the law.

And the court, the Constitutional Court, which we continue to describe as the apex court, when once it is spoken, it is spoken. Its word stays. But look at where we are at. It's spoken against the president and the president is still dribbling it around.

We need to get to a point where we have a discussion in South Africa about the institutions that govern our democracy. To what extent can they be made stronger after thirty two years of being tested? To what extent can they be made to show that they can still stand between South Africans and Hell?

For now, we are all relying on Madlanga to show us maybe that something can be done, but the poor man can only take so much.

Chris Steyn (15:46.849)

Indeed. Thank you. That was political commentator Solly Moeng on BizNews with me, Christine. Thank you, Solly

Solly Moeng (15:55.437)

Thank you, Chris.

Solly Moeng: DA in danger of becoming the ANC