Apartheid parallels

THE REVELATION by Rajesh Sundaram, ANN7’s former editor, regarding former president Jacob Zuma have some strong parallels to the apartheid regime.

The late Dr Connie Mulder, together with Louis Luyt, came up with the idea of using state funds to launch an English newspaper The Citizen to compete against the mighty Argus Group as well as others such as Natal Mercury, which was privately owned.

Once in the open, JB Vorster resigned, PW Botha became president and Mulder eventually ended up as an ordinary MP in the Conservative Party after winning the Randfontein seat.

Seems a similar parallel here with the Gupta/Zuma link, except Zuma went further and saw his son as a shareholder and wanted the bulk of state advertising to go to ANN7.

I would have gone with the name ANN24, though it has a feminine touch.

But I guess Media24 may have objected.

No surprise that a former business close to the then NP paid a hefty sum to ANN7 for the broadcasting rights.

These businesses enjoyed a good relationship with the then NP regarding state advertising and even school textbooks.

M-Net was given a major boost during the “open time” window on SABC’s platform and gained good advertising revenue.

Remember Loving and Days of our Lives? This is how you run a business Mr Zuma.

One would have thought Zuma, with his political wisdom, should have figured people are not dumb when they see a propaganda channel or company that employs your family members.

Just think for a minute if the Zuma/ Gupta alliance continued.

As for propaganda, many Afrikaans newspapers (Die Vaderland) carried the views of their readership (and kept them in the dark around apartheid).

To think you could recreate this with ANN7 and the masses would believe you?

The mobile broadcasting vehicles ANN7 had were well equipped and branded. Strange the vernacular languages were not chosen.

Almost the same English/Afrikaans newspaper parallels of the 1970s. Muhammad Omar Durban North