THE Guptas are being maligned … unfairly so, if you ask me. The Guptas do not know President Jacob Zuma. They have never met him. In fact, and more importantly, they have never seen him on TV. For some reason, when the president’s face is flashed like a broad smile on ANN7, this always happens when the Guptas are in a business meeting with a senior government official or African National Congress (ANC) leader, deep in discussion about penury alleviation.
According to my intrepid spies, Sore Throat and Undercover Sister, who have attended some of these meetings disguised as eager-to-please-the-Guptas politicians, these excellent entrepreneurs have not asked for a description of the president from eager-to-be-captured ANC luminaries and government officials.
Even more important is the fact that the Guptas have spurned every attempt by these people at corrupting them, and they always advise these senior ANC officials not to use the president’s name in vain, since such attempts are always in vain, given the fact that the Guptas don’t know the president.
So, I wish to align myself with the Premier League and its affiliates and beseech you nosey, prying and snooping political reporters, partisan news hounds, and captured political commentators to leave the Guptas alone. Hands off the Guptas!
All they are guilty of is their impressive business acumen and their gifts for telepathy, extrasensory perception and the power of prophecy. They can read the mind of the president, sense ministerial vacancies before the president becomes aware of his desire for a Cabinet reshuffle and, more importantly, they can prophesy the exact configuration of such a Cabinet reshuffle.
But, what is not known about the Guptas is that they are extremely concerned about declining levels of integrity on the part of some ANC members. From time to time, they conduct what, in the parlance of integrity management specialists, is called an RIT (random integrity test). Those who fail the test may suffer the misfortune of being offered a Cabinet post by the president. What is important, though, is the fact that the RIT and the president’s decision are completely independent of each other. It is because of all the reasons stated above that I have come to the conclusion that the Guptas are being maligned unfairly.
Also, I think it is because of my cogent arguments above that the national executive committee (NEC) of the ruling party decided to condemn state capture in general instead of condemning state capture in particular.
However, what I find amusing about some of the paragons of virtue who are miffed because, in their eyes, the ANC NEC is soft on Zuma, is the fact that they lose their appetite for condemnation of state capture in particular whenever anyone tries to interest them in state capture by powerful families other than the Guptas.
They suffer serious attacks of anorexia and other appetite-distorting maladies when they are told about rogue units in sections of big business against whom Gupta-esque allegations are made.
The Guptas are just the tip of the iceberg. They are not the only predatory wolves in business suits who may be guilty of capturing unsuspecting and naive ANC members. The possibility is that the difference between them and the other allegedly predatory business clans is what seems to be a propensity for vulgar displays of power.
In the words of an e-mail sent to City Press: "The most foolish thing a farmer can do when his livestock is being destroyed by wild animals is to start a full-blown war against hyenas while saving the lions, because ‘at least the lions do not kill my animals painfully’."
As for the accusation that the majority of NEC members simply decided to protect Zuma because they were in a Gupta state of mind, again I beg to differ. These honourable members of the august and highest decision-making body of the ANC between national conference are, like the Guptas, being maligned unfairly. They are just being kind to their personal interests.
• Matshiqi is an independent political analyst
Jacob Zuma. Picture: GCIS
THE Guptas are being maligned … unfairly so, if you ask me. The Guptas do not know President Jacob Zuma. They have never met him. In fact, and more importantly, they have never seen him on TV. For some reason, when the president’s face is flashed like a broad smile on ANN7, this always happens when the Guptas are in a business meeting with a senior government official or African National Congress (ANC) leader, deep in discussion about penury alleviation.
According to my intrepid spies, Sore Throat and Undercover Sister, who have attended some of these meetings disguised as eager-to-please-the-Guptas politicians, these excellent entrepreneurs have not asked for a description of the president from eager-to-be-captured ANC luminaries and government officials.
Even more important is the fact that the Guptas have spurned every attempt by these people at corrupting them, and they always advise these senior ANC officials not to use the president’s name in vain, since such attempts are always in vain, given the fact that the Guptas don’t know the president.
So, I wish to align myself with the Premier League and its affiliates and beseech you nosey, prying and snooping political reporters, partisan news hounds, and captured political commentators to leave the Guptas alone. Hands off the Guptas!
All they are guilty of is their impressive business acumen and their gifts for telepathy, extrasensory perception and the power of prophecy. They can read the mind of the president, sense ministerial vacancies before the president becomes aware of his desire for a Cabinet reshuffle and, more importantly, they can prophesy the exact configuration of such a Cabinet reshuffle.
But, what is not known about the Guptas is that they are extremely concerned about declining levels of integrity on the part of some ANC members. From time to time, they conduct what, in the parlance of integrity management specialists, is called an RIT (random integrity test). Those who fail the test may suffer the misfortune of being offered a Cabinet post by the president. What is important, though, is the fact that the RIT and the president’s decision are completely independent of each other. It is because of all the reasons stated above that I have come to the conclusion that the Guptas are being maligned unfairly.
Also, I think it is because of my cogent arguments above that the national executive committee (NEC) of the ruling party decided to condemn state capture in general instead of condemning state capture in particular.
However, what I find amusing about some of the paragons of virtue who are miffed because, in their eyes, the ANC NEC is soft on Zuma, is the fact that they lose their appetite for condemnation of state capture in particular whenever anyone tries to interest them in state capture by powerful families other than the Guptas.
They suffer serious attacks of anorexia and other appetite-distorting maladies when they are told about rogue units in sections of big business against whom Gupta-esque allegations are made.
The Guptas are just the tip of the iceberg. They are not the only predatory wolves in business suits who may be guilty of capturing unsuspecting and naive ANC members. The possibility is that the difference between them and the other allegedly predatory business clans is what seems to be a propensity for vulgar displays of power.
In the words of an e-mail sent to City Press: "The most foolish thing a farmer can do when his livestock is being destroyed by wild animals is to start a full-blown war against hyenas while saving the lions, because ‘at least the lions do not kill my animals painfully’."
As for the accusation that the majority of NEC members simply decided to protect Zuma because they were in a Gupta state of mind, again I beg to differ. These honourable members of the august and highest decision-making body of the ANC between national conference are, like the Guptas, being maligned unfairly. They are just being kind to their personal interests.
• Matshiqi is an independent political analyst
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