There are good and strong people in the African National Congress (ANC), but the good appear not so strong and the strong not so good.

The three people caught with their snouts in the Gautrain gravy face claims of corruption and choose to look stupid (by not knowing their shares and options are promises of wealth) and selfish (by not seeing their enrichment was at the public’s cost), Speaker, ministers deny Gautrain conflict (November 28).

The individuals and companies involved are a disgrace, but the real concern is if they are protected by ANC paralysis. Unless the ANC requires its leaders to have the intelligence to manage the technology of power and the morality to resist temptations, it will be short on talent and long on greed.

The result: bad politicians chasing votes with false promises, escalated taxes to fund patronage, a nation bled by parasites and the ongoing squeezing out of the skilled by the elite.

The outcome: taxpayers and property holders paying the price when popular frustration over service nondelivery is deflected into racial conflict and a violent free-for-all.

The ANC needs to show leadership now on the Gautrain, Jackie Selebi at al, or the long walk to freedom becomes the short race to ruin.