Lumka Oliphant’s dismissal exposes rot

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT / X

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

It is a stark microcosm of the systemic corruption, political protectionism, and targeted silencing of whistleblowers 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 whistleblowers.

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 truth-tellérs 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.