Steenhuisen’s woes might be a win for the DA: Terence Corrigan
Key topics:
Steenhuisen faces scrutiny over personal debt and party finances.
Small financial lapses can signal larger ethical concerns.
Public leaders’ conduct matters as DA gains political influence.
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By Terence Corrigan*
By the dismal standards of South African public life, it’s hard to see why John Steenhuisen’s financial management should have been worth the attention paid to it.
It’s of course embarrassing: the leader of a political party and government minister has had a default judgement against him over his credit card debt and is alleged to have shown a somewhat freewheeling attitude to party finances. But he’s hardly alone in this, and he has not been accused of pocketing state funds.
So, what is this about? Part of it, I guess, has to do with Steenhuisen himself. Fairly or otherwise, he’s been the target of a lot of animus since he became party leader. I tend to think he was just unacceptable to a lot of highbrow opinion. He took over as leader, after all, during peak ‘woke’, and followed the departure of Mmusi Maimane (the “black exodus” as the catchphrase had it). A non-university-educated white male ticked all the wrong boxes. He also lacked the personal charisma of a Maimane and the public standing of a Helen Zille.
I’d also venture that this instance provides the sort of equivalence that more than a few observers crave. Taking a swing at the DA gives credibility to criticism of the ANC. It demonstrates a principled even-handedness. And it also gives some perceived cover (at least in their own minds) from being closet racists who are shilling for a “white party”. I’d say this is misplaced, since whatever sins may emanate from the DA, they are simply not a patch on those perpetrated (and sometimes celebrated) by the ANC. Besides, the ANC has seldom been constrained by evidence when it comes to levelling charges of racist conspiracies, not least against the media.
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Still, this is not a non-issue, and it was disingenuous (a vintage South African cliché) for Steenhuisen to respond to a media query that his financial issues were “none of your business”. As a matter of general principle, personal financial problems are a gateway to larger ethical problems. A cash-flow crisis in the day-to-day course of life – not opulent living – is an easy, low-guilt prompt to shortcut solutions. For many of us. Pilfering office stationery for your children? Well, I work lots of overtime, and it’s not like they’re going to miss it. Invoicing work for personal Uber trips? Just this once. Charging groceries to the company account? I’ll settle it later, end of the month… if they ask.
It’s not like this is unknown to South Africa. The so-called Travelgate saga which came to light in 2004 was a case in point. For those who’ve been so overwhelmed by subsequent scandal that this has receded from memory, it involved parliamentarians cashing in their official flight vouchers with travel agencies. Parliament paid, and the errant MPs and the agents each took their cut.
At the time I chatted to a senior DA MP, who I had assumed would have issued a fiery rebuke of the culture of corruption afflicting Parliament and the ANC’s caucus. His response was surprisingly empathetic. Many of his peers, he said, had entered Parliament with zero financial literacy. They had often not operated a bank account before and had certainly never had to manage a salary of the magnitude they were then receiving. They were also often expected to support extended families. This was not a good situation. Finding themselves perennially short of money, the notion that one could simply switch a voucher for cash (well, it’s yours anyway, isn’t it?) was an attractive answer.
For my interlocutor, a proper resolution needed not only proper transparency and sanction, but a recognition of the context and remedial action, such as providing support for members to learn to manage their money. It was, potentially, an important teaching moment.
In the event, it proved nothing of the sort. Initial reports had suggested that between 135 and 179 MPs were implicated, including some cabinet ministers. A full list was never produced, with only some 31 facing a legal penalty. A handful of these resigned, but for the most part, it was treated as an embarrassment to be managed.
Now Steenhuisen has not been accused of anything of the magnitude of the Travelgate scandal, either qualitatively or quantitatively. In fact, his circumstances are probably familiar to a great many middle-class South Africans. The point is that problems start small and end big. As a financial advisor once wryly observed to me, one’s appetites can always grow to accommodate one’s paycheque – financial discipline is a skill to be practised both by those with little and by those with a lot.
Relatively modest transgressions can make ethical boundaries very permeable. And personal financial challenges open the way to pressure and influence. The personal conduct of a public representative may well not signal his or her fitness or effectiveness in the office he or she holds, but it can raise questions. Poor personal choices are not necessarily a predictor of ministerial performance. But they may. At any rate, as a steward of the public interest, the conduct of leaders is something that sovereign people have a right to know about.
Steenhuisen’s personal financial affairs are therefore, to my mind, neither irrelevant nor unimportant to the public. But make of them, and the fallout from them, what you will.
One hastens to add, though, that some of the commentary around this matter is speculative at best. There have been efforts to link this controversy to the firing of Dion George, and to rope into it the trade in wildlife and canned hunting. Maybe, maybe not. We just don’t know for sure.
I see too that some of the purveyors of this report have taken delight in pre-emptively chastising DA supporters for hypocrisy for any pushback that may come out of the controversy. Don’t dare go there! Well, we’re a society in which political critique can take a rather more robust and lethal turn, so a bit of digital self-righteousness seems like small beer. But make of that what you will, too.
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But maybe DA supporters should welcome this scrutiny. South African politics is in flux, with polling showing that the DA has gained ground since the last election. It is positioning itself to play a significant – even decisive – role in South Africa’s future. The conduct of parties other than the ANC is now a matter of practical importance, and arguably, for none is this more the case than for the DA.
*Terence Corrigan is the Project Manager at the Institute, where he specialises in work on property rights, as well as land and mining policy. A native of KwaZulu-Natal, he is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg). He has held various positions at the IRR, South African Institute of International Affairs, SBP (formerly the Small Business Project) and the Gauteng Legislature – as well as having taught English in Taiwan. He is a regular commentator in the South African media and his interests include African governance, land and agrarian issues, political culture and political thought, corporate governance, enterprise and business policy.
This article was first published by Daily Friend and is republished with permission