We should be afraid when people with influence rise to defend the Guptas
LAST week the SABC hosted yet another one of its New Age Business breakfasts. The difference this time was that there was no government minister to pat him or herself on the back for a job well done on whatever the honourable ministers do to justify their pay cheque at the end of each month.
Instead, the panel boasted controversial SABC group executive for corporate affairs Hlaudi Motsoeneng, SABC acting chief executive James Aguma, Jimmy Manyi of the Progressive Professionals Forum and full-time champion for every cause, and Andile Mngxitama – who is fast becoming more entertaining than Miles Bhudu and his once famous shackles.
The esteemed gentlemen were debating the phenomenon called state capture. As expected, they waffled on about how the state in South Africa had been a victim of capture for at least 400 years or so.
They argued, passionately among themselves I might add, that for the rest of South Africa to see the Gupta family as capturers-in-chief was nothing short of mischievous.
They also did not miss their chance to lash out at ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu and black journalists that they say are also captured.
And so the theatrics went on with cheers from the dozens of like minds who graced the show. The entire episode would have been very amusing had it not been for the dangerous cocktail of venom that was being spread in defence of the Guptas.
That such influential men could marshal a huge army of praise singers to applaud every time they made notes of how feeble the minds of the 54million people – (plus 2 million Zimbabweans) who call this country home – to harbour such strong feelings against one family is sickening to say the least.
Given the drama that is currently taking place in South Africa at the moment, the four gentlemen can be easily dismissed as ridiculous and even delusional. But therein lies the danger. These men are not wannabes. They command such influence that in the end, the joke may very well be on those who want to wish them away.
Motsoeneng’s nearness to senior people in the government is the kind of stuff that only legends are made of.
Mngxitama has become a poster boy for everyone who feels aggrieved by former public protector Thuli Madonsela.
And Manyi not only fights for what he believes is the unfair treatment of the Gupta family, but moonlights as an adviser to Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and is also a member of the Black Business Council – an outfit that does not want President Jacob Zuma to pass the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill.
This piece of legislation would allow the banks to scrutinise and report suspicious activities in accounts held by politically-exposed individuals to see if they are not induced into making certain decisions about the direction of the country.
If signed into law, the bill, which has already been passed by both the national assembly and the national council of provinces, would tell us the extent of how moneyed individuals have bought their way into the hearts of our leaders.
What these respected gentlemen are in effect fighting over is no different from the other drama that is happening in the North Gauteng High Court.
Zuma and Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane want Madonsela’s report on state capture not to be released for public consumption.
Their argument is that they deserve to see the report before the rest of us can know what it contains so that they can interview people who testified against them. Van Rooyen does not mind the release of the report, only if the court orders the blocking out of those portions that relate to him.
This is how far South Africa has deteriorated, with ministers believing that they are not supposed to be subject to laws that govern the rest of the republic.
It makes everyone wonder whether there is something that Van Rooyen and Zwane know that they do not want the rest of us mortals to know when it is public information that the three are rather too friendly with the Guptas.
Entitlement
It is a sense of entitlement that has become way too familiar in our body politic.
This manifests itself in the non-stopping service-delivery protests where communities demand that they be given everything free, simply because the government had promised to do so.
It also plays itself out in the #FeesMustFall movement where students from families that can afford to pay for university fees hide behind the campaign.
The argument shows no regard for the potential danger of undoing what generations after generations have fought for – the highly entrenched inequalities of our society.
But who can blame communities and students when their very leaders also want to own a slice of this entitlement?
Zwane has gone as far as misrepresenting the cabinet on the Guptas to the embarrassment of his boss Zuma.
The fact that we are being denied the right to know how and who decides on the way the rest of South Africa should live is an insult to our wellbeing.
It is exactly why politicians think it is necessary for them to waste taxpayers’ money on litigation instead of using it to ignite a stagnant economy.
As things stand now, we are nowhere near to knowing the extent – or lack thereof – of the tentacles that the Guptas have placed over all of us because that would infringe on the rights of those suspected of allowing the situation to happen in the first place.
It makes us wonder why we have such a bloated cabinet when common sense suggests that it would not be sustainable given our economic situation.
Last week, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said there was no ethical justification for a cabinet with 35 ministers and 38 deputies with the salaries, VIP protection and benefits amounting to millions of rands that go along with it.
It called on Zuma to review the numbers as this would not only give hope to ratings agencies, it would also back Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s job in convincing the world that we are able to change.
But given the wrangling over the influence of the Gupta family on the cabinet, and their backers in the government, South Africa only has to sit and watch while its relevance in the international community wanes.
With people like Motsoeneng, Manyi, and Mngxitama and others such as Kebby Maphatsoe who have taken it upon themselves to dismiss the notion of state capture, we all have to be afraid. Very afraid indeed!