The Crooked Continuum: Why ANC corruption didn’t begin in 1994

ANC corruption in government; it witnessed its graduation ceremony.

- DUGAN BROWN

WHEN ANC leaders take to the stage these days, clad in oversized suits and exuding gravitas, lamenting the “new scourge” of corruption, it’s almost endearing. Almost. They clutch microphones at rallies and conferences, hands raised in righteous indignation, as if state capture, looted SOEs, and tenderpreneurial gluttony were recent trespassers who barged into Luthuli House uninvited.

The script is predictable: the ANC, once the heroic vanguard of liberation, has been betrayed by a few bad apples in the post-apartheid orchard.

The myth is neat. It’s comforting. And it’s complete nonsense.

Corruption within the ANC is not a new phenomenon. It did not magically sprout in 1994 with the advent of democracy, nor did Jacob Zuma conjure it into existence with a sly smile and a Gupta-sponsored curry.

The truth, though awkward, is that corruption has been ingrained in the ANC’s political culture since the struggle years. What we are witnessing today is not a deviation from the movement's “golden past” but the logical continuation of practices honed in exile and internal underground structures.

During the long years of exile, donor funds and international solidarity cash poured into ANC coffers. The idea was noble: money would support freedom fighters in training camps, care for families torn apart by apartheid, and sustain the machinery of resistance.