In about nine months from now, the residents of Gauteng are widely expected by numerous polls to vote out the ANC as the governing party of South Africa's richest province.
According to these polls, the party will attract less than 40% of votes in next year's election in the province.
The ANC will appoint a task team of elders afterwards to assess what happened and where things went wrong after 30 years of ruling Gauteng. I could spare them some time and money; start with the conduct of Human Settlements MEC Lebogang Maile this week to answer your question about how the ANC lost Gauteng.
By Monday morning, it will be 72 hours after Maile launched into a racist and intimidatory tirade against senior News24 investigative journalist Kyle Cowan, calling him a "stupid racist white man" for doing his job. Three days later, nobody, neither Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, nor Maile's ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, had rebuked, censured, or fired Maile.
On Friday morning, Cowan sent a text message to Maile after his spokesperson failed to answer News24's basic questions about a probe into a government agency under Maile's control.
The probe into the Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF), a provincial government entity that grants friendly loans to private businesses to assist with infrastructure development, was triggered by a News24 exposé on 12 July about Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
The story, written by Cowan and his colleagues in our investigations unit, revealed that the luxurious R37 million Waterfall mansion Mashatile was living in was purchased by a company belonging to his son-in-law, Nceba Nonkwelo. Another of Nonkwelo's companies, Nonkwelo Investments, had received at least R30 million in loans from the GPF between 2013 and 2017.
Mashatile was human settlements MEC between 2016 and 2018.
Nonkwelo Investments received the money from the GPF to develop student accommodation in Highlands, Johannesburg. Despite millions borrowed by the Gauteng government to Mashatile's son-in-law, not a single unit has been built.
On the day of publication, Maile wrote to the GPF board, ordering them to appoint a law firm to investigate the loans to Nonkwelo Investments. He made all the right noises, calling on transparency and accountability, and said a legal firm would be appointed within 30 days.
But then things got weird. When News24 inquired from the GPF board how far they were in the process to appoint a law firm, they referred all queries back to Maile's office, despite the MEC telling News24 the probe would be handled by the GPF's board to ensure independence.
You see, Maile's older brother, Mike, is a key member of the so-called Alex Mafia, a group of comrades who were student activists with Mashatile in Alexandra and rose to positions of power and influence during Mashatile's reign in the province. Mike Maile was one of the applicants who unsuccessfully tried to interdict News24 from using the term "Alex Mafia" ever again.
Lebogang Maile himself has described Mashatile as a comrade and older brother.
Our brief to the News24 investigations team was to keep very close tabs on the GPF investigation as we have learnt from experience that the terms of reference and identity of investigators are often key to making or breaking any probe.
That is why Cowan, on Friday, wanted answers about the appointment of a law firm. The 30-day deadline Lebogang Maile had set for himself and the GPF had passed.
After not receiving a response from Maile's office, Cowan contacted the GPF, who referred him back to Maile. He then sent questions to Maile via text message, and the MEC returned his call, launching into what can only be described as a racist and defamatory tirade.
It is unacceptable for any elected official to bully, intimidate and harass a journalist like that. Maile's outburst is unfortunate but telling. He could not answer a simple question from Cowan – when are you appointing a law firm to investigate Mashatile's son-in-law? Instead, he accused Cowan of being racist for daring to question him.
Maile is clearly in a corner and under pressure to find an elegant solution for his "older brother" and "comrade" Mashatile out of this mess.
We're sorry, MEC, but the spotlight will remain on you and the deputy president. Your behaviour is despicable and possibly unlawful.
News24 is still weighing up our legal options and we are grateful to our subscribers who have encouraged us to hold Maile to account.
The silence of Lesufi, who confirmed to Cowan that he had received the audio clip of Maile's tirade, and the ANC, is deafening.
Instead, ANC leaders, including Lesufi and Ramaphosa, gathered in Gauteng on the weekend to strategise for next year's elections and used the opportunity to insult the Multiparty Charter formed in Gauteng last week. Ramaphosa called it a "sideshow", and Lesufi said they were a "gang of losers".
When the ANC's support in Gauteng dips under 50% next year, and the party is forced to find coalition partners or make its way to the opposition benches, they need not look further than August 2023 to understand why decent, law-abiding citizens deserted the Arrogant National Congress.
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