Mushwana+letting+ANC+petticoat+show,+Kevin+OGrady,+Weekender

Business Day Weekender, Johannesburg, 11 November 2006
=Mushwana letting ’ANC petticoat show’=


 * KEVIN O’GRADY**

PUBLIC Protector Lawrence Mushwana is the ruling party’s secret weapon in the war against the abuse of power by its members.

Whenever the ugly spectre of abuse by a top African National Congress (ANC) member appears, Mushwana simply makes it go away.

He invited this judgment when, in his 2002 interview for the job and in the face of a barrage of criticism about his allegiance to the ANC, he said: “Perceptions will depend on the product. If the results will suggest that I am biased, then people will have the right to think that I’m biased.”

With a raft of investigations into ANC members under his belt, his track record is notable for one thing: a paucity of negative findings against his former colleagues. It is not for nothing that he has been referred to as the ANC Protector, and Lawrence of Evadia.

The latest “vindication” of a senior ANC member came on Thursday when Mushwana cleared Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya of conflict of interest in his department’s tender process.

But he did nail the minister for breaching executive ethics, in what an opposition party referred to on Friday as the “first sign of any courage” during Mushwana’s tenure.

Of 16 investigations into the activities of ANC members reported in the media since 2003, he has made negative findings in only three.

Two of these were against low-profile municipal and provincial officials for wasteful expenditure, and one against then prosecutions chief Bulelani Ngcuka for saying there was a prima facie case of corruption against former deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Among those who have escaped sanction are Zuma, Skweyiya, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, First Lady Zanele Mbeki, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (twice), Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride, the entire Cabinet, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe, presidential advisor Manne Dipico, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and 17 ministers and deputy ministers fingered by the auditor-general for failing to disclose their financial interests.

In two cases, Mushwana’s rulings have been found wanting by subsequent court action: the prospect of a criminal trial still looms over Zuma; and state oil company Petrosa agreed in a recent court settlement to hand over documents pertaining to the Oilgate scandal, which Mushwana decreed it need not do.

Opposition parties, including one that supported his appointment, laid into him on Friday, accusing him of being incapable of managing his office properly and of being tainted by the whiff of whitewash.

Inkatha Freedom Party justice spokesman Koos van der Merwe, whose party supported Mushwana’s appointment in 2002, said it would be “hesitant” to do so given the chance to repeat the selection process. He pointed to Mushwana’s public spat in July with his deputy, Mamiki Shai, who made sexual harassment allegations against her boss, as proof of his inability to manage his office.

When he “ran like a cry baby” to Parliament to get it to handle the situation, “he then proved he’s not capable of managing his own staff”, Van der Merwe said.

The IFP spokesman said he had referred two cases to Mushwana’s office, without ever receiving a reply. “Some of his decisions have surprised me,” he said, without wanting to be specific.

“He sends uncomfortable signals. One would expect him to be beyond reproach.”

Sheila Camerer, justice spokesman for the Democratic Alliance, which vigorously opposed Mushwana’s appointment, said that while “each case has to be regarded on its merits, there has been a pattern”.

The “first sign of any courage” was Thursday’s finding of a breach of executive ethics against Skweyiya, “but it’s a minor infringement”, Camerer said. His disappointing performance was highlighted by the Oilgate scandal. “He made a finding giving reasons not to give us (Petrosa) documents, which ran counter to a later court case,” she said.

Both parties said they would lobby aggressively when Mushwana’s term expired in 2009 for legislation to be changed so that the post would be filled by an independent candidate.

Mushwana was deputy chairman of the National Council of Provinces before his appointment, and he was one among a host of other candidates, mostly independent.

“It’s not wise to get an active politician in there,” Van der Merwe said. As for an active ANC-aligned politician: “There will always be claims that his ANC petticoat is showing.”


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/weekender.aspx?ID=BD4A315787**

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