It is a case of history repeating itself: Corruption Watch’s annual hero-zero of the year poll has revealed public protector Thuli Madonsela as the readers’ choice for corruption hero of the year for a second year, while President Jacob Zuma emerged again as the zero of the year.
At the centre of the stark contrast between hero and zero titles, it could be argued, is the Nkandla report which has seen Zuma arrive at what analysts and the media regard as his political turning point, thanks to the work of Madonsela’s office in revealing the damning report into security upgrades at his private home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal. A ministerial report released on 19 December, however, has cleared Zuma of ordering the upgrades.
A convincing hero
Madonsela led the pack by over 250 votes in the online survey, first made live on the Corruption Watch website earlier in December. Zuma had nearly the same number of votes, which helped to cement his spot as Zero Number One.
Interviewed during Women’s month in August, Madonsela told Corruption Watch she felt privileged that the media and the public think the work done by her team matters so much. She praised her team and said her initial concern upon taking up the role was leading successfully. One of the biggest lessons she learned was that in the case of politics, she had to anticipate and let the storms pass knowing she did her best in finding and telling the truth as it is.
The hugely contentious Nkandla report – which probed the security upgrades at Zuma's Nkandla homestead, which cost the taxpayer millions – has been at the centre of many debates on government spending, reporting structures for Chapter 9 institutions such as the public protector’s office and more recently, the question of whether or not Zuma should not consider removing himself from office in the wake of the public protector’s report’s recently leaked contents. Zuma himself has remained mum on the subject, fuelling the media’s excitement on the issue, which has reverberated onto the international sphere.
Madonsela has said that she plans to release her report in January.
Heroes aplenty
Among the candidates for Hero of the Year were minister of finance Pravin Gordhan and former auditor-general Terence Nombembe, both of whom have repeatedly called for a curb in wasteful government expenditure and abuse of public money. Gordhan took matters into his own hands recently when he declared, during his mid-term budget speech in October, that he is putting an end to the use of government credit cards by departments. Only time will tell what impact the move will have on excessive spending.
Other hero title contenders were ordinary South Africans who took the fight against abuse of power to the next level and held authorities accountable.
The teachers of Thubelihle High School in Soweto contacted Corruption Watch to report possible corruption by the school’s principal. A forensic investigation by Corruption Watch that emanated from their complaint revealed fraudulent transactions using school funds. In the Eastern Cape village of Queen’s Mercy in Matatiele, siblings Zamuxolo Moutloali and Palesa Manyokole took the provincial and national departments of education for the poor governance and appalling learning conditions at their school.
Zeroes well represented too
Our poll was not without a fair share of action on the list of possible zeros either, and readers were spoilt for choice. Former communications minister Dina Pule and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson were contenders, as were Pansy Tlakula of the IEC, Johannesburg waste company Pikitup, General Riah Piyega, the Department of Public Works, and Richard Mdluli.
All of these zeroes displayed corruption of diverse kinds and to various degrees, and all deserve to be scrutinised and investigated.
For the heroes on our list, however, it is the courage with which they faced their adversaries and their steadfastness in their resolve to see corruption defeated, that found their names on our poll. Madonsela is humble and modest in her approach to her important work, which makes her an inspiration to possible whistleblowers who wish to bring corruption down.
Asked during her interview what it was that worried her most about her work, she replied: “I sleep like a baby. But I do worry about the costs of indifference and self interest in the public sector. I have seen too much of the pain caused on ordinary people by indifference and selfishness.”
