Casper Labuschagne

These comments by Khumbudzo Ntshavheni are unacceptable and point to a government that refuses to tolerate criticism and simply wants those who criticize it to leave the country. Over the years, Ntshavheni has made many controversial statements and her involvement in highly questionable government practices is well known. Yet today, she holds one of the most powerful positions as Minister in the Presidency. Her claim that individuals and/or groups wish to destabilize South Africa is, of course, a straw man argument, as there is no evidence to support it. However, a desperate ANC, intent on clinging to power, no longer tolerates criticism. It is therefore clear who Ntshavheni really is. She is a product of ANC cadre deployment, a system that has fostered chaos, financial mismanagement, and corruption wherever she has served in government. Ntshavheni was the municipal manager of Ba-Phalaborwa from 2008 to 2010. During her tenure, she presided over a collapse in basic financial controls: the Auditor-General’s findings recorded tens of millions of rands in unauthorized, irregular, and fruitless expenditure, as well as bad debt that eventually ballooned to over R100 million, leaving the municipality too bankrupt to resolve its own mess. The emblem of that era is the Makwande accounting contract, an award later described by a judge as "repugnant and devastating," given to a late bidder and subsequently inflated from approximately R584,000 to over R2.3 million through an irregular expansion of the scope. Yet, Ntshavheni walked away unscathed and was simply promoted by the ANC. Years later, the Hawks completed an investigation into fraud and corruption and forwarded a docket to the NPA, however, Ntshavheni was never prosecuted. At SITA, she served as Chief Operating Officer and even that record is tarnished: she was placed on precautionary suspension in 2013 amidst a forensic investigation into an irregular ICT contract, with auditors recommending sanctions for dishonesty and financial misconduct. She left the agency and continued her ascent. Proximity to Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign, rather than a clean municipal or SITA track record, propelled her through the portfolios of Small Business Development and Communications and Digital Technologies and ultimately into the Presidency as the minister now overseeing state security. South Africa’s ruling class has a long-standing habit of treating administrative failure as a credential. Ntshavheni is one of the clearest examples of this. The world needs to know what a dangerous individual she is.

Indeed. Reporting on this simply doesn't fit the leftist narrative regarding environmental issues. Furthermore: when it rains, it supposedly rains too much; when there are fires it burn more than ever before (lies), or when it is pleasantly warm (Europe this summer), it is claimed to be the hottest ever (lies).