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Mandela Foundation wants to hold to account those responsible for crippling S. Africa

Xinhua, November 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Nelson Mandela Foundation on Tuesday voiced support for the demand to hold to account those responsible for compromising democratic South Africa and looting its resources.

"South African citizens across the land are speaking out and taking action to express their dissatisfaction," the foundation said in a statement.

"Twenty years since Nelson Mandela signed South Africa's Constitution into law and as the third anniversary of his passing approaches, it is painful for us at the Nelson Mandela Foundation to bear witness to the wheels coming off the vehicle of our state," the statement noted.

The foundation pointed to a weakening of critical institutions such as the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and law enforcement bodies due to political meddling for private interests.

"We are reaping the results of a political trend of personalizing matters of state around a single individual leader. This in a constitutional democracy is to be deplored," the foundation said.

The ability and commitment of the Head of State to be a "constitutional being" is one of the wheels of the state, said the foundation.

The unanimous judgment of the Constitutional Court in the matter of President Jacob Zuma and the use of state resources on a private residence was one such test, the foundation said.

"It is increasingly a national consensus that he (Zuma) has failed the test," said the foundation.

It was referring to the Nkandla scandal involving Zuma in relation to the abuse of public funds worth 246 million rand (about 18 million U.S. dollars) in the security upgrade of Zuma's private home in his native place of Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province.

"As this particular wheel rolls away, other critical institutions of state break off to follow it. The legislative, business, and public service sectors of the country are severely affected, compromising the ability of the state to serve the people," the foundation said.

It said a battle now rages to keep SARS attached to the vehicle of state.

"What public discourse has described as 'state capture' by private and political interests is, we believe, a real threat to the Republic," the foundation stressed.

Zuma has been under fire for allegedly allowing the wealthy Indian Gupta family to meddle in South African politics by influencing the appointment of cabinet ministers.

Another wheel is an accessible and well-functioning education system, the foundation said.

"Schools, in our view, particularly those in townships and rural areas, have largely been captured to political interests and have deteriorated to unimaginable levels," the foundation said, adding that now universities are being brought to their knees.

"This is not sustainable for any education system. The potential collapse of universities will damage our democracy to its core," the foundation warned. Endit