Still a lot to know about Guptas, state must explain

I HAVE discovered that one of the #Gupta leaks is titled “How Guptas went behind the government’s back on Dalai Lama”.

This revealed that the Guptas had invited the Dalai Lama to be the special guest at the inaugural South African of the Year awards held on September 6, 2014.

This is another disturbing matter about the Guptas because they wanted to do something opposite to the position of the SA government on the Dalai Lama.

This move by the Guptas showed lack of respect for the government.

One of my published articles was titled “SA dances to China’s tune”. I emphasised that I did not believe the government had a problem at all for the Dalai Lama to attend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday.

SA denied the Dalai Lama a visa to come to the country because of China’s stance on him, especially when one THERE is no doubt that Bantu education was inferior to that of whites’ during apartheid, and that funding was skewed towards white schools.

Yet, after 23 years of ANC rule, Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, has admitted that South African schools are in what is “akin to a national crisis”.

Funding is no longer a problem as over 6% of GDP is spent on education – more than any other African country. took into account the diplomatic-cum-economic ties between SA and China.

It is my belief that SA was held to ransom by China. There is a diplomatic procedure to be followed for people to visit SA. If the government had denied the Dalai Lama entry to attend Tutu’s birthday, and the Guptas invited him without the consent of the government, who is really in power?

The Guptas had a plan for the Dalai Lama to attend their occasion. Unfortunately, he turned down their invitation due to his full travel schedule, as indicated by his secretary, Tenzin Taklha. Perhaps the Dalai Lama turned down the invitation to hit those in government who are co-operating In his 2016 Budget speech, Pravin Gordhan budgeted R297.5 billion for education, of which R205.8bn was allocated to basic education.

Yet our education is in crisis – the excuse being the “legacy of apartheid”. Where does all this money go to? Let’s look at the facts.

In 2014/2015 South Africa’s maths and science ranked last with the Guptas in pursuing their own agenda.

For the Guptas to land their private plane at Air Force Base Waterkloof for their wedding proves they had co-operation from some in government.

I also believe that the Dalai Lama did so in solidarity with his friend, Tutu. He knew very well that those with close ties to the Guptas are the very same people in government who hit Tutu by making sure that the Dalai Lama was not allowed entry into the country. It would have been a spit on Tutu’s face had the Dalai Lama responded positively.

There is a lot to know about the Guptas and government owes the people of South Africa answers about these people.

The Gupta stories are not yet finished. How they landed at Air Force Base Waterkloof is still awaited.

Guptas showed lack of respect for government

Hammanskraal out of 140 countries. In 2015, 213 000 pupils out of nearly 800 000 failed their end-of-year exams (26.6%). This is apart from the massive dropout rate. More than half of pupils starting in Grade 1 drop out over the 12-year period.

A study last year by Stellenbosch University highlighted these problems: 1. Poor teacher content knowledge, and the inability to impart knowledge effectively. 2. Multiple and continual changes in curriculum and policy, which undermine and demoralise teachers. 3. The fact that Sadtu officials “had captured the education system, and were in fact running education in six provinces”. Sadtu has repeatedly refused the testing and evaluation of teachers’