Final chapter in Zondo saga puts Phala Phala sideshow in perspective

It was to be expected, as the final Zondo commission report was being readied for presentation to President Cyril Ramaphosa, that those implicated and who may get prosecuted would step up their campaigns against him.

Given that South Africans have, on average, that proverbial “15-second attention span”, they have had to keep the pot boiling. By them, we mean those loyal to former president Jacob Zuma and who have benefitted from the massive state capture project.

Also Read: Jacob Zuma and Arthur Fraser worked to keep each other out of prison – Zondo

And all of them are now coming to the party – from Ace Magashule and his allies to the MK fighter-in-chief, Carl Niehaus – to further the propaganda war against Ramaphosa.

Make no mistake: the president certainly has not helped his own case by avoiding speaking directly about the burglary at his game farm.

There are many legitimate questions he needs to answer, which he has not so far done. Yet, what we are likely to see over the next days and weeks is more of the same from Ramaphosa, who knows not only about the public’s attention span, but also the fact that the totality of the Zondo report’s evidence and allegations is more than enough to swamp the clever disinformation campaign being propagated by former spy boss Arthur Fraser.

Ramaphosa may indeed be guilty of bad judgment over the farm story or, even worse, may have committed legal misdemeanours. But these pale into insignificance when stacked up against the rampant looting of the state capture gang.

Also Read: Parliament won’t hold Ramaphosa to account for farm theft, says expert

Every day we see the evidence of this around us – from failing health services, to potholed roads, to collapsed sewerage facilities – and it is clear that the vast scale of the stealing has set us back decades as a country.

Once the people of South Africa realise this, the president’s farm saga will become a mere sideshow.

Now Read: State Capture: Zuma not the only one to blame, says Kathrada Foundation