PM’s masterstroke

Towards the end of this month’s breakfast meeting of editors, with the prime minister, I looked at Majozi Sithole and felt pity for him.

He was in the spotlight again, because he had attended the breakfast meeting and as can be expected, was asked to respond to questions posed by editors on the subject of the controversial jet deposit, the promise of a refund and the dealings this country—or Majozi—enjoys with DARFIN. This relationship looks frosty at best, and I think doomed, to say the least.

But it does exist, and the Times has been carrying expose after another on the subject of who DARFIN is, as well as its role and that of Professor Whelpton.
I am sure that when Martin Dlamini, the Times Managing Editor, asked the question of what exactly is going on between DARFIN and the country, Majozi wished he had not attended the meeting with editors, but then again, he would have attended in knowing fully well, that there was no way the editors would let this go—at least not that easily.

But once it was asked, all eyes shifted to him, sitting quietly next to Benedict Xaba to his right and then Prince Hlangusemphi. It looked to me as if it didn’t bother him, but you never know what goes on inside a man’s heart, and I did think that he was feeling the pressure of this job.

As would have been expected, the Prime Minister, Sibusiso Dlamini did his best to deflate the attention, by seeking to explain the government—or indeed Cabinet’s—position in dealing with the agent now known as DARFIN, who it is that promised us the so-called grant Majozi bragged about early this year in Parliament.

This prancing that he did at Parliament opening is now the reason some of us won’t cut him some slack, because it is such performances that make or break a politician—well, perhaps one should emphasise that this normally would be expected where there is multiparty democracy.

This is the staff that would get your party being uncomfortable and also coming to the conclusion where it begins to be felt that one is becoming a liability than an asset to his/her party, more especially because there would be pressure mounted by the opposition. So, when a member of the ruling party flounders, it is the credibility and popularity of that party that suffers, hence more often than not what happens is the party then takes a decision to recall its members to lower or less high profile positions—or thrown out altogether.

So, therefore, it is highly unlikely that when a minister makes a promise, he would be expected not to keep it, as was the same in this case when Minister Majozi promised parliament that this country would have in excess of E300m in our consolidated fund—or whatever fund, because he had worked some magic and found some good people who were willing to give that much money.

I mean, that is how this was presented to the public, that Majozi had done some brilliant work in recovering lost monies, and then being able to add to this some few hundred millions to go with it. Because, if he had not, he would simply have told us that he had spoken to some people who were willing to forgive and forget our transgressions during our attempt to buy a jet—and in addition were also keen on donating some good money towards charity.

I guess what I am trying to say is that Majozi should not have made this about him—about his wonderful achievement, or his heroic achievement, for this only meant that he was inviting further scrutiny in the manner he had handled this—yet it now appears there was something fishy here.

Of course, being the excellent politician that he is, he does not find it difficult to change tune, without even bothering to apologise for getting things wrong. This is not Majozi’s curse alone, it is our politicians’ curse in general, notwithstanding that by now you would assume they would learn from those before them not to fall into this trap. Here I am referring, for instance, to the manner and behaviour of the Lubilini MP and fulltime gospel musician, Timothy Myeni, who has behaved in a manner that speaks levels about his maturity as an MP.

He too made a statement, was told it was bad thing to say and only managed to half-heartedly apologise. Of course, the public saw through this, and soon the pressure was mounted for him to unreservedly apologise. But you will realise too that he did not just apologise, in his send one, but he  managed to indicate that he still thought the world was crazy to pin him on this, ‘because there are people who have said worse things than him’! I mean, what is the point here, other than to argue that you are making an issue out of tissue?

Should the MP have said this, in the first place? The gravity of this mistake is such that the MP should have withdrawn his comments immediately and at every given opportunity, so as to demonstrate his remorse. Instead, it seems to me, that he is still not convinced he made that much of a mistake, and for this is confused why the media, in particular, is harping on about this.

This is exactly the situation with the finance minister. On Thursday he hinted as much that this was not such a big fuss, especially when he pointed out that he too, was relying on correspondence that was now with the Times! He basically made it clear that he can’t be faulted if the people he was dealing with had indeed made him those promises!

But this is exactly our point of departure. Phela, the minister can’t just pass the buck like that. He needs to take greater responsibility for his role, and for trusting these people, without so much as leaving room for disappointment. He can’t expect the public to allow him to say whatever he feels like and then turn around to argue that he did so because he was told.

To me, the grave mistake here is how Majozi broke this to the public, making a pledge without so much as revealing that the country had hired a middleman in attempting to recover the jet deposit—not to simply say he was talking the money was on its way.
Consequently, when this does not happen, it means he must pay the price, hence my point that in another country, another democracy, he would be walking the street.

And on Thursday, it was evident that he too had been frustrated, if not embarrassed by the turn around—and that he had run out of excuses to make on behalf of these people—accepting that things had not turned out as he had been promised.
As it turns out, there is a greater chance that this country may have been duped in this saga, and the longer this saga plays itself out the money it appears things are not what they seem. So, this puts Majozi at a big risk, a place where perhaps his political life could be hanging by a thread.  He may try to camoflouge it, and pretending that this was not his fault, but he will know that the buck stops with him, and one would dare suggest that if this refund, compensation or donation does not find its way to our coffers—then he does not deserve to hold the seat any longer.

I say this of course, fully aware that in this country it takes more than just living to your word and indeed failing to take responsibility for your work to get the axe. It really has to be something really scandalous to get sacked, and even then those scandals could help elevate you to an even mightier status, so all may not be lost for the minister!

This of course brings me to the other point of the day. I was pleased to learn that the prime minister is pushing ahead with his plans for a performance contract for his Cabinet team, as well as principal secretaries—for this augers very well for this country and the taxpayer.

This is a brilliant idea that gives us how that politicians and those principal secretaries will work for the huge salaries they get paid. It gives us belief that the prime minister does indeed intend to go ahead with his business unusual strategy, to improve service delivery. For so long, ministers have been the untouchables, even when they have failed to live up to their billing, and nothing has happened to them. We the taxpayers, have become very fed up of this and therefore we are absolutely thrilled that we can now know that there will be an evaluation for the ministers and they too will leave nothing to chance in their effort to extend their stay in their offices.

It will be interesting, therefore to see what will happen at the end of their contracts, who will get the boot and who would have failed to deliver. What I will find interesting is how the PM will assess ministers on such things as those that affect their public showing, than what targets he has set them. This is crucial too, for some ministers are just not up to the task, and fumble openly in public—but may impress inside the office.

Either way, the PM needs to be commended for showing that he intends to have a team of good ministers who will know that the job is never done, and therefore no time to fool around. This is what we will help ministers get off their backsides, and do their jobs.

Perhaps then, they will not need to defend themselves in public, and such ministers as Majozi, will know it will take more than just shifting goalposts to remain on the government payroll. Heads, we say, must roll, for the people have long been fed too many empty promises. We now need to spring to action, Nkhosi!