SA’s not fooled, Gwede

WHO believed ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe when he promised to probe claims of “state capture” levelled against the Gupta family? We did not. Which is why his announcement this week that the investigation had been aborted — just two months after instituting it — was no surprise.

It was launched after a meeting of the ANC national executive committee in March, in the wake of current and former senior party members, including former top government officials, having gone public with claims of inappropriate approaches by the Gupta family.

This followed a revelation in this newspaper that Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas had been offered the finance portfolio in President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet — while Nhlanhla Nene, the former minister, was still in office. Many more bombshells followed. The ANC had no choice. Mantashe responded by calling those with evidence to come forward, promising the party would protect them. Eight heeded his call.

But on Wednesday Mantashe said that because only one party member had submitted a written complaint, it was a “fruitless exercise” for the probe to continue. Then he tried to assure South Africans that the ANC was serious, and would continue to discuss “state capture”.

Who is Mantashe trying to fool? Maybe those who toe the party line and have already welcomed his decision to drop the investigation.

What South Africans expect is a public inquiry by a constitutional body — not an investigation by a conflicted political party. State capture, as many have pointed out, is nothing but a euphemism for blatant corruption. Failure to decisively deal with this could be disastrous for the country.