By Nco Dube | 01 May 2026

For nearly a decade, South Africans have been fed a political fantasy. Since Cyril Ramaphosa took over the ANC in 2017 and the country in 2018, the governing party has preached renewal with the confidence of a church that believes its congregation will never question the sermon. Renewal was sold as the moral reset after state capture. It was sold as the ethical correction after the Zuma years. It was sold as the moment the ANC would finally confront its own decay.

Instead, renewal has become a shield for inaction. It has become a slogan that masks paralysis. It has become a political sedative used to calm a public that is expected to accept less and less from those who govern it.

Nothing exposes this more brutally than the series of Sisisi Tolashe scandals. It is not a single scandal. It is a catalogue of misconduct. It is a case study in how the ANC protects the politically useful and abandons the public interest. It is the clearest evidence yet that renewal is not a project. It is a performance.

A Minister Engulfed In Scandal And A President Who Pretends Not To Notice

The Daily Maverick timeline of these scandals is devastating because it is so detailed. It is not rumour. It is not speculation. It is a sequence of events that shows a minister who behaves as if accountability is optional and as if the rules apply only to those without political protection.

A 22 year old with “only a part time IT qualification and no real work experience” is appointed Chief of Staff (Daily Maverick, 10 September 2025). A Director-General is given a five year contract when Cabinet approved only one. A special advisor, Ngwako Kgatla, draws two government salaries at the same time, a fact the department knew since 2024, and nothing happens.

Then comes the minister’s appearance in Parliament. She “lies and fudges”, blames clerical errors, blames subordinates, blames a dismissed Spokesperson, and even claims Daily Maverick apologised for its reporting, which it did not (Daily Maverick, 9 October 2025).

By April 2026 the scandal reaches its most brazen chapter. Two Chinese donated SUVs meant for the ANC Women’s League end up registered in the names of Tolashe’s adult children. The ANCWL denies ever receiving them. Tolashe tells Parliament the cars went to the League. The registration records say otherwise.

And then comes one of the most disturbing allegations in the entire timeline. Daily Maverick reports that Tolashe appears to have appointed a childminder for her private residence on the Social Development payroll. 

The same report states that this childminder was coerced to hand over half her government salary to the minister’s daughter for the family’s household expenses (Daily Maverick, 28 April 2026). This is not a grey area. This is not a misunderstanding. This is the alleged exploitation of a worker using state resources.

Through all of this, the president of the republic remains largely silent.

Ramaphosa’s Leadership Has Become A Masterclass In Avoidance

The president’s defenders insist he is constrained by ANC processes. They insist he must balance factions. They insist he cannot act unilaterally. But this is exactly the problem. If the president cannot act against misconduct because it may upset internal power dynamics, then the ANC is no longer a governing party. It is a political organism that exists only to protect itself.

The only time Ramaphosa intervenes is when Tolashe oversteps his authority. Not when she misleads Parliament. Not when she shields an advisor with a fabricated CV. Not when she benefits from donated vehicles. Not when she allegedly uses public money for a private nanny. His March 2026 letter admonishes her for initiating disciplinary action against the DG without presidential delegation. It is a bureaucratic reprimand. It is not leadership.

The message is unmistakable. The president will act only when his own authority is threatened. He will not act when the country’s integrity is threatened.

This is not renewal. It is surrender.

The ANC Protects Power. It Does Not Protect Principles.

The Tolashe saga is not an isolated failure. It is part of a broader pattern in which the ANC shields those who are politically strategic, even when they are ethically compromised. Tolashe is not just a minister. She is president of the ANC Women’s League. She leads a constituency the dominant faction cannot afford to alienate.

This is the same logic that has paralysed action on the Senzo Mchunu SAPS and PKTT matter. It is the same logic that has allowed some individuals implicated in the Zondo Commission to remain untouched. It is the same logic that has turned the ANC Integrity Commission into a waiting room where accountability goes to die.

The ANC’s internal power dynamics have become more important than the country’s governance. More important than public trust. More important than the rule of law.

This is why renewal is impossible. You cannot renew an organisation that refuses to confront its own rot.

The Cost Of Cowardice Is National

The cost of this political cowardice is real. It is borne by institutions that cannot function because leadership is compromised. It is borne by public servants who watch misconduct rewarded and integrity punished. It is borne by citizens who have stopped believing that accountability is possible. It is borne by a democracy that becomes weaker every time the ANC chooses factional stability over ethical clarity.

The Department of Social Development now operates under a cloud of scandal. The ANC Women’s League is led by someone whose actions have undermined its credibility. The presidency is diminished by its own silence.

And the ANC’s promise of renewal has become a national joke.

Renewal Requires Consequence. The ANC Has None.

The ANC cannot continue to preach renewal while protecting leaders who undermine it. It cannot continue to ask South Africans for trust while doing nothing to earn it. It cannot continue to claim moral authority while refusing to exercise it.

The Tolashe scandal is not just a story about one minister. It is a story about a party that has lost the will to govern itself. It is a story about a president who has chosen caution over courage. It is a story about a political culture that rewards loyalty over integrity.

Renewal is dead. Not because it was impossible, but because the ANC chose not to pursue it.

Until the party and its president decide that the country matters more than internal power dynamics, accountability will remain a distant dream.

(Dube is a noted Political Economist, Businessperson, and Social Commentator whose insights are regularly featured on Ukhozi FM and in various newspapers. For further reading and perspectives, visit: http://www.ncodube.blog)