Conspiring to slaughter SA’s sovereignty
OAKBAY Resources and Energy shares took a drubbing on the JSE yesterday, falling almost 30 percent in early trade, days after the politically-connected Gupta family announced that it was planning to sell its business interests in South Africa.
On Monday, Oakbay shares retreated 10 percent as the country digested the news that the controversial family would relinquish its local shareholding before the end of this year.
The family said it was already holding discussions with several prospective buyers who were keen on the offloaded stocks.
The announcement comes after members of the family stepped down from all executive and non-executive positions in Oakbay Investments in April, citing a sustained political attack on them and their businesses for the decision.
In a different world, the loss of a listed company can be best described as a great cause for concern as such a disinvestment means that thousands of jobs will be lost and the fiscus will lose another valuable contribution from the taxpayer.
It would force the government to ask how things could have gone so wrong that a company such as this one would want to have nothing to do with the country.
Review
It would, therefore, bolster a case for an introspective review of how the economy is run and how businesses relate to local trading conditions.
But the fact that the shares plummeted 28.4 percent also shows that very few investors have the stomach to put their money next to a company that has attracted so much negativity in South Africa.
Oakbay is not just owned by the Guptas. The mere mention of the family name sends the kind of loathing among South Africans that Julius Malema and his army of would-be revolutionaries only keep in their arsenal for white monopoly capital (whatever that means).
Never has one family been reviled by the 54 million-or-so people who swear by whatever is most sacred to them that this is a beautiful country.
So in a way, the Guptas are the victims of their own doing.
While they did indeed empower Duduzane Zuma – whom they plucked from the obscurity of Nkandla to a prominent business position with handsome shares in mining, technology and media companies – they also became too difficult as visitors for South Africa to host.
They abused our generosity so much so that they even forgot that they were only in South Africa as guests and that their mission was to invest in the local economy and reap profits afterwards.
Their nearness to power got them so drunk that they began to see themselves as the co-governors of this republic.
They used this to manipulate the government and tried to decide who looked best in what ministry.
They also treated their employees and communities where they operated with much contempt, but were quick to shed crocodile tears whenever someone asked about their conduct.
Their case was not helped by some dodgy ministers and two overzealous premiers who told them what they wanted to hear, even when the public mood had swung radically against their presence.
On Monday, two of the biggest regulars at the family’s Saxonwold compound came out guns blazing, accusing Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan of playing into the hands of the media.
They charged that Gordhan was not above the law and if he had nothing to hide, he should simply visit the Silverton headquarters of that outfit headed by one Benny Ntlemeza, who many people, including judges, do not quite see as the most honourable cop in all the land.
But such a posture was to be expected from Des van Rooyen, the man whose fourday stint as the minister of finance caused untold havoc in the markets and plunged the rand into its worst crisis since 1994.
And Kebby Maphatsoe, the self-styled commander, who wears the honour of having deserted his army base in Uganda during the days when there was a liberation army.
Interestingly, Van Rooyen and Maphatsoe were quick to charge that those who had captured the Treasury were coming out to defend Gordhan, even though the country believed that the Guptas had captured the state to influence appointments and to line their pockets with money.
But they also did not tell us why they visited the compound north of the big city more often than others.
And that there are allegations that they were being showered with gifts, which to this day remain unanswered.
And that the very Gupta family that had been their beneficiary was at some point a subject of multiple investigations by the Hawks for alleged corruption; the Financial Intelligence Centre for alleged money laundering; the SA Reserve Bank for the termination of business relationships with certain banks; and numerous others by the National Treasury into alleged corruption.
If the truth was to be told, the two gentlemen would have known that we stand at the current economic precipice precisely because the Guptas and their cheerleaders had led us to this edge.
Or that most level-headed South Africans think that Gordhan’s biggest sin was his interest in questionable deals that the family signed with state-owned entities, such as Eskom, and believe that the reason why an investigation that looked doomed from the outset was suddenly resurrected with so much zeal and vigour.
While it is indeed true that Gordhan is not above the law, and like any other citizen, should be subjected to the rules of the country, the way in which the investigation has been handled has left a bitter taste in many mouths.
It the Hawks genuinely believed Gordhan had a case to answer to, the investigation could have been handled in a better way.
After all, the Hawks’ predecessor, the Scorpions, saw fit to inform former president Thabo Mbeki about their zooming in on late former police commissioner Jackie Selebi, because they put national interests above everything else.
Opportunism
This is the context in which whatever Gordhan has or has not done must be seen.
Which is why Van Rooyen and Maphatsoe’s decision to take their apparent dislike of Gordhan’s stance under the guise of the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association, smacks of nothing but opportunism of the highest order.
As senior leaders in government, and presumably in the ANC (if anyone takes them seriously), there are many better channels where their concerns could have been communicated in a more decent way than what it was.
If they did not want to speak to Gordhan directly, they could have asked one of their colleagues who is closer to him to whisper their discomforts into his ears.
As Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa correctly put it during the funeral of former minister and diplomat Makhenkesi Stofile last week, the government cannot afford to be see talking with forked tongues.
Government ministers cannot be seen pulling in opposite directions, as this not only suggests divisions within the administration, but it also undermines confidence in the leadership of our country.
Only an investor who has motives beyond honesty can sow his money into such mayhem.
One day, when history books are written and scholars of our past try to find reasons why we got to be where we are, the name of the Guptas will feature prominently in the reams of files that will be authored.
And Van Rooyen, Maphatsoe and the two cheerleading premiers of the Free State and the North West provinces will be found to have conspired in this general slaughter of our sovereignty.