“Authorities beat
around the bush in bringing an end to State capture”
Government officials are seen as the leaders of the
state, they are the people who are meant to steer the economy to the land of
milk and honey for the benefit of all citizens. But once one of these leaders
goes wrong, all the others are affected. In parables “one rotten apple spoils
the whole bunch”.
It is the role of authorities to
ensure that standards and protocols are followed by government officials and
punishment is brought to people who didn’t stand by the duties and rules
assigned to them.
Ever since news about state
capture surfaced, the justice system has been beating around the bush than
calling a spade a spade not a garden tool. Many investigations like the state
capture report have been conducted yet the committers of state capture have
been avoiding justice. This is mainly because the justice system (being members
of parliament) are the actual puppets of the Gupta empire. Many discoveries
that members of parliament are on the Gupta’s pay roll were made showing how
much control this family had on the leaders of this economy at the expense of
citizens.
Thousands gathered outside Union
Building in Pretoria in support of the motion the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)
stood for on the 2th of November 2016 after the state capture report had been
released. In a statement given by EFF leader Julius Malema, The EFF demanded
the former president Jacob Zuma and his NDPP Shaun Abrahams to step down with
immediate effect as well as the Gupta family to be disconnected from all state
contracts and leave South Africa immediately. Yet after all this, South
African’s tears were swept under the rug of justice.
Jacob Zuma answered questions
connecting him to state capture at the state capture debate at Cape Town
Parliament in 2017. He went on to state the fact that even those that are the
most corrupt stand to point fingers to others to say that they are corrupt,
showing how much corruption is within government.
Despite the state capture report
which showed his connection to the matter, the former president still went on
denying having received any money during his presidency but the #GuptaLeaks
suggested otherwise.
According to a report on “BIZ
NEWS” Journalists at amaBhungane found that SARS officials were giving the
Gupta family confidential information on tax investigations. Writing for the
Daily Maverick, Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos says there is enough in
the #GuptaLeaks to prove the following:
- Several government ministers in particular Faith Muthambi, Mosebenzi Zwane, Lynne Brown, Malusi Gigaba have been captured by the Guptas.
- Several high ranking officials in state owned enterprises have been doing the bidding of the Guptas, helping them to extract billions of Rand from various state owned enterprises.
- The fact that boards have not suspended these officials provides further evidence that the boards of state owned enterprises support the capturing of the state by the Guptas and are willing to protect those involved in it.
Even after these findings, the
president just conducted endless cabinet reshuffles to simply prolong their
influence in capturing the state. These people were given high and important
positions in government not because they were qualified but because of the
purpose the Gupta family had for them.
“All Africa” says the damaging content revealing Gupta influence includes:
- One email showing that the Gupta family was given the Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane’s CV, a month before he was appointed by President Zuma.
- An email confirming that Minister Des van Rooyen, who was appointed by Zuma to replace Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene and removed after four days when the economy took a nose dive, had his trip to Dubai fully paid for by the Guptas.
- Communication between former Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and the Guptas on government’s policy plans.
Instead of the South African
authorities using these reports as information to confront the Gupta brothers which
connected the Gupta family, Jacob Zuma and other government officials to state
capture, there was still no justice because the Gupta family got their assets
unfrozen and were able to get away with their crimes yet again. I think this is
because other members of the ANC are afraid that he would expose their dirty
corrupt linen for all to see, after he made threats to deal with them
accordingly at a meeting and he repeated these threats when he appeared in
court before he stepped down.
All these state capture reports
and leaks as well as scandals show how much danger South Africa was in at the
leadership of these people. The authorities took their time to prolong the case
of state capture so that the family and its puppets could find a way of
escaping the law.
