HARK! That growing chorus grows louder still! Yes, the Mahogany Ridge has joined the ranks of those banks and companies that will have no truck with the Guptas. Their money is no good here — even if it may have been our money at one stage.
It is true that, unlike, let’s just say, the situation with Barclays Africa or Sasfin, the Guptas have not actually done any business with the Ridge at any time in the past, at least not to our knowledge, but that needn’t mean we should be left behind in this mad scramble for the moral high ground.
In making this bold decision, the Ridge echoed the sentiments of KPMG’s local chief executive, Trevor Hoole, when he explained to his staff why they would no longer be auditing the family’s mining outfit, Oakbay Resources and Energy: “I can assure that this decision was not taken lightly but in our view the association risk is too great for us to continue. There will clearly be financial and potentially other consequences to this, but we view them as justifiable.”
So, even if the brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh did drop in, offering to buy us all a round of the expensive stuff, we will not be swayed; we will turn them down and show them the door. Sad, but such is life.
Elsewhere, it would seem that the Guptas’ close friend, President Jacob Zuma, was also finding that he, too, has perhaps overstayed his welcome as opposition parties, civil society groups and an ever-expanding group of ANC veterans and politicians, including those within the ruling party’s inner circle, clamour for his removal.
The mounting anti-Zuma sentiment within the ANC may seem at odds with the party’s overwhelming rejection in Parliament on Tuesday of the DA’s motion to impeach the president after the Constitutional Court found that he had failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution by not complying with the Public Protector’s remedial action relating to the Nkandla upgrades.
Certainly, there was some suggestion here at the Ridge that an endorsement of the motion would have signalled a commitment to the constitution, but it would also have amounted to career suicide.
Had the ANC supported the motion then Zuma would not only be shown the door but he’d also lose all the privileges enjoyed by former presidents — a cold and ignominious retirement in Shady Acres, to say the least. But perhaps not a lonely one: MPs, as well as ministers and deputy ministers, would also lose their jobs and benefits. So even his detractors voted for him.
There is also the argument that it would be an act of self-immolation for the ANC to impeach Zuma mere months before the local government elections. But this is a bit of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t sort of situation. What’s worse — if he stays or if he goes? Time, as they say, will tell.
Meanwhile, our shepherd can still expect a warm welcome in certain quarters.
Speaking to that collection of fossils and apartheid relics, the National House of Traditional Leaders, in Tshwane on Thursday, Zuma offered up the by-now customary indication of the sort of deep embarrassment he’s capable of causing colleagues with yet another of his unique interpretations of the law.
“I’ll be very happy that we solve the African problems in the African way because if we solve them only legally they become too complicated. Law looks at one side only, they don’t look at any other thing,” he was quoted as saying.
“They deal with cold facts and I was complaining [about] that, but they’re dealing with warm bodies. That’s the contradiction. You can’t stand in court and defend yourselves. You need a lawyer. The law goes to the other side. The judges convict you, even if you tell the truth.”
The traditional leaders were whining on about their lack of land, housing and funding, and their exclusion from decision-making processes on policies and issues of national interest.
One of them, Mpumalanga’s Chief Mathibela Mokoena, said there were some government members who hated traditional leaders and looked down on them, adding, “There are those who ask stupid questions about our roles.”
It is indeed stupid to question their roles. Last time we checked, we had some 5 300 tribal chiefs, 800 traditional leaders and seven monarchs. They cost the tax payer well over R575-million in 2014. In addition to this, some R20-million is doled out each year to support traditional leadership structures.
They rule over about 20 million people living in rural areas. Which, lest we forget, is a lot of votes. They come at a price but the President still has some friends.
This article first appeared in the Weekend Argus.
