Evidence on state capture has been unequivocal – heads must roll

FROM the high note of Mcebisi Jonas’s testimony last week to the drama of Vytjie Mentor and then the hallmark professionalism and resolute courage of Themba Maseko, book-ended by Phumla Williams’s honesty, a picture has emerged at Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s inquiry into state capture of a parallel state that was set up to facilitate industrial-grade kleptocracy.

We have heard of Jimmy Manyi being earmarked to replace Maseko as head of Government Communication and Information System before Maseko had even been fired. Then, after executing the plan to divert state advertising spend to unlamented erstwhile Gupta mouthpieces, The New Age and ANN7, actually being given them by the Guptas to run. Yesterday, Manyi brought further opprobrium upon his head when he texted Williams in the middle of her testimony to ask her to elucidate her statement about his involvement in the infamous ANN7 breakfasts.

It’s not even a case of joining the dots. There has been nothing subtle about state capture or the criminal involvement of the Gupta family, Duduzane Zuma – and now his father Jacob Zuma. The evidence thus far has been unequivocal.

Obviously, this needs to be tested in a court of law. This hearing should lead to criminal charges against all those named. But this is our quintessential conundrum. We are very good about instituting commissions of inquiry but no one has been criminally charged.

The Farlam Commission into the Marikana Massacre insisted that the police be investigated, starting with the erstwhile police commissioner, and prosecuted. Nothing has happened.

These commissions of enquiry are expensive not just in terms of the taxes we pay but also upon our credulity as citizens. We dare not be rendered voyeurs in our country. This is not ancient Rome with its circuses to appease the masses. We need action to guarantee that our country won’t be captured again, that our vulnerable won’t be left to die or our workers shot in cold blood as they protest.