agendas of these bodies whenever they dare to criticise the ruling party or any of its representatives. The recent track-record of these institutions reveals the extent of the paralyses that has already set in. Due to limited time, only a few examples in this regard will be mentioned, based on issues that AfriForum is dealing with currently.  The Auditor-General regularly uncovers mismanagement and corruption in state organisations, yet the guilty parties are often merely redeployed in other positions before disciplinary action can be taken against them. Misappropriated funds are rarely recovered. This explains why South Africa’s Transparency International ranking dropped from number 36 in 2002 to number 72 in 2013.  The Commission for Gender Equality that was supposed to be independent from political parties and assured of wide powers by the Constitution, was a casualty of the emerging politics of patronage, as Prof Shireen Hassim, Professor of Politics at Wits University, describes it. While gender-based crimes increase in South Africa, with specific reference to rape and so-called corrective rape, this commission’s voice is not heard. Its past is clouded in controversy. In 2010, a report by independent auditors found the commission to be in such a chaotic state that it recommended that it should be placed under “mentorship”. Currently, it is difficult to see whether the commission is doing anything of significance. The most recent media statement on its website dates back to 10 October 2014. In the past 4 months, only two entries appeared on its Facebook page.  The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities is increasingly focusing on nation building, instead of on the protection of communities’ rights – the role it was established to fulfil. Cadre deployment was the final kiss of death to this commission, which is now under the firm control of the ANC. As a consequence the management of the commission now regularly attends the ANC’s working group meetings on cultural affairs in order to align the commission’s activities with the aims of the ANC. The commission also paid the expenses of its chairperson to attend the ANC’s centenary celebrations. The hijacking of the commission by the ANC has not only resulted in the commission being of no use to minorities, but it is now even being used as an instrument to oppose the claims of minorities. When AfriForum in 2012 started a campaign to protect Afrikaans as a medium of education in schools, the commission issued a statement criticising AfriForum’s campaign. Ironically, the commission should have been the one institution which AfriForum ought to have been able to approach for support in this regard. Complaints to this commission by AfriForum were met with the promise of a meeting. It was scheduled for the end of October, but a few days beforehand, we were informed that the appointment