Mandela era employed cadres but Zuma did cronyism: Thuli Madonsela

Former public protector Thuli Madonsela believes when she was first appointed in the department of justice to work in drafting policies and laws during Nelson Mandela's presidency, it was “probably a case of cadre deployment”. But, Madonsela suggested, cadre deployment differs from the recent controversial impressions.

She said during Mandela's time the deployment process appointed “highly skilled and trained” people. The appointment of the late anti-apartheid lawyer Dullah Omar as minister of justice, the late Dr Zola Skweyiya, who had an LLD qualification, as public service and administration minister, and Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as health minister were some of her examples of effective cadre deployment during Mandela's tenure. 

“The height of cadre deployment was during Nelson Mandela's tenure. My first deployment to the department of justice would have probably been cadre deployment, even though it might have not been from a committee [political committee],” Madonsela said in an interview with television channel Newzroom Afrika.

Cadre deployment is different from cronyism, which means the appointment of relatives, friends and associates to positions without considering qualifications. Cronyism was practised by former president Jacob Zuma during the state capture years, she said.

“If you look at the dictionary meaning of cadre deployment, it is when you deploy the best. China and Singapore still do cadre deployment. Under former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, corruption was minimal. Under Jacob Zuma, corruption was rapid,” Madonsela said.

“In the Zuma years it was not cadre deployment, it was cronyism. People were deployed as proxies of Zuma, some would have been people who supported them during elections. Some were placed in strategic positions specifically not to advance the interest of the people but to advance the business interest of president Zuma's son Duduzane and Guptas. The business interest was in companies that were co-owned by these two families.” 

The state capture report led by chief justice Raymond Zondo details evidence from many witnesses about Zuma's relationship with businessmen Rajesh, Atul and Ajay Gupta. The Gupta brothers owned companies which scored government tenders worth billions.

 A snippet from the report on one the cases now in court reads, “On October 31 2011, the Free State department of agriculture and rural development entered into a contract with Nulane management services. The contract was irregularly awarded without any competitive bidding process and appears to have been designed primarily as a device to funnel Free State public funds into the Gupta enterprise. Nulane was paid R24,984,240 by the Free State department of agriculture.”

Aside from Zuma's affiliation with the corruption-accused Gupta brothers, he was in the spotlight for the Nkandla saga which was revealed during Madonsela's tenure.

In 2016, Zuma was forced to take a loan after the Constitutional Court ordered that he should pay back money irregularly used during “security upgrades” at his private home in Nkandla. The court found state funds were used to build structures not related to security, including a visitors’ centre, amphitheatre, cattle kraal, chicken run and swimming pool. 

Madonsela's report flagged irregular expenditure in the project initially estimated at R145m but which actually cost the taxpayer R246m.

In her report Madonsela said Mbeki's security upgrades cost taxpayers R8m.

“The information supplied revealed that at R215m and rising, the cost of security installations at president Zuma’s private residence far exceeds similar expenditure in respect of all his recent predecessors.

“The allegation that president Zuma’s immediate family members also improperly benefited from the measures implemented is substantiated. President Zuma improperly benefited from the measures implemented in the name of security which include non-security comforts such as the visitors’ centre, the swimming pool, amphitheatre, cattle kraal with culvert and chicken run.

''The private medical clinic at the family’s doorstep will also benefit the family forever. The acts and omissions that allowed this to happen constitute unlawful and improper conduct and maladministration,” the report read. 

Watch Madonsela's interview here.