Lumka Oliphant’s dismissal exposes rot

THE dismissal of Lumka Oliphant, the former chief director of communication in the Department of Social Development, is more than a simple personnel matter.

- PHAPANO PHASHA

It is a stark microcosm of the systemic corruption, political protectionism, and targeted silencing of whistle-blowers that continues to thrive under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership. Her case, emerging just days ago, serves as a clarion call, revealing an administration that, despite its promises of a “New Dawn’, is enshrined in moral decay.

Oliphant's dismissal, following her exposure of Minister Sisisi Tolashe’s R3 million New York trip, reveals a political system that punishes integrity and rewards loyalty. Oliphant’s account of a sustained “humiliation” campaign underscores a chilling reality for whis-tleblowers.

Her statement: “Many Black professionals have been purged and silenced because we fear for our lives,’ connects her ordeal directly to the ultimate price paid by teuth: tellers like Babita Deokaran, assassinated for exposing corruption under the Ramaphosa administration.

The silence of the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) also underscores a painful truth: the party, under Ramaphosa, has become a diseased body, echoing the rotten state of Denmark in Hamlet, where moral order has collapsed and foul deeds rise to the surface.

The silence of the ANC’s NEC is not merely complacency; it is complicity in the terror unleashed on whistleblowers and the systematic burial of the ANC’s own soul.

Oliphant’s case provides a damning, factual blueprint of how the ANC-led state now operates. Her detailed statement reveals a system that punishes integrity and rewards sycophancy. She was not dismissed for incompetence; the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) confirmed her department was one of the best-performing in government.