Enough of the SAA bloodsuckers

The National Library of Medicine in the US contains a paper with this description of parasites: “In contrast to typical predators, parasites do not always kill their hosts, and if they do, it may take a considerable amount of time.”

If we think about that for a while, then perhaps we need to reshape our perceptions of our ANC masters.

They are not the voracious predators we think they are because the departments and state-owned enterprises from which they suck the lifeblood of taxpayers’ money still stagger on.

That means the parasites can continue to feast.

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Even better, they can keep their prey on life support through more bailouts with public money.

That is what happened at South African Airways, where the national carrier became the pot of gold at the end of the looting rainbow for the ANC’s cadre deployees and their accomplices in the airline staff and its supplier companies.

So far, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) tots up that more than R3.7 billion was sucked from SAA… a staggering 22% of its total losses under the auspices of its chair at the time, the politically connected Dudu Myeni.

This doesn’t include, of course, the waste on jollie patrollies for the politically connected or sheltered employment for the party faithful.

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In keeping with the encyclopedia of theft already compiled by the ruling party, none of those implicated in any of this bloodsucking has been brought to book.

This despite the multiple fine-sounding speeches about corruption from President Cyril Ramaphosa and the perpetual promises by the public enterprises minister that SAA will be saved by flogging it off.

It now also seems the latter deal may not exactly be kosher, either…

That is why the future is so bleak for this country: if looters don’t get punished, the looting will continue. And grow.

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