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This week the ANC, rather reluctantly, published its top 100 names of members who are on its parliamentary list.
There was a reason the party appeared to be holding back – the list represents everything the party has denied it is.
It shows a retention of the tired, old members who have been in Parliament and government for donkey’s years with very little to show for it.
The party is seemingly intent on bringing back to Parliament all the old aunties and oupas who have been there since 1994. Virtually all of the present Cabinet ministers are set to return.
It has drafted in young people, but seemingly as an afterthought because many of them are far down the list.
More concerning is that the party failed to live up to its promise to root out controversial names and people implicated in wrongdoing.
It seems the ANC could not decide on who to keep and who to leave out and ended up just keeping all of them.
All the people who were part of Jacob Zuma’s looting years have been guaranteed a return.
Nomvula Mokonyane, who was either implicated or negligent in water projects, the funds of which were stolen and abused and the projects not delivered, has been rewarded by being 10th on the list.
Not only was she in Watergate, but she was also implicated in the Bosasa scandal.
Evidence led at the Zondo commission alleged she was a beneficiary of the largesse of the controversial company that has numerous contracts with government.
As for Bathabile Dlamini, the less said the better.
The ANC list deserves tough scrutiny. The people at the high end of the list will not just represent the party but will end up being ministers who will take decisions on our behalf every day.
The party has essentially given South Africans the middle finger and made it apparent that it will be business as usual. The incompetence, corruption and callousness will continue.
There were promises of a new dawn with the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as president, but the party seems trapped and incapable of moving past the old dispensation.
As the country celebrates 25 years of democracy, the ANC has sent a message: It is more important to appease and balance the factions within the party than unleash a new wave of fresh and energetic MPs who will take the country to new levels.
