Manyi-Gupta deal is fake news

Mzwanele “Jimmy” Manyi and his Gupta benefactors can’t fool us all. The so-called sale of Gupta-owned news channel ANN7 and The New Age newspaper to Manyi’s company Lodidox is fake news, a trick by a family desperate to find a banker.

The R450 million deal is vendor-financed. This means the Guptas are lending the money to Manyi. If it’s taxpayers’ money, you are paying for Manyi’s propaganda toys. The deal will not, as claimed, “save 7 500 jobs”. The two outlets don’t employ that many people.

Last year Africa Check found that the entire Oakbay operation, which includes other companies in addition to ANN7 and The New Age, did not have 7 500 employees. Nor are these two companies worth R450 million.

Which financial institution helped the Guptas with the calculation? Remember, a string of SA banks, plus the Bank of China, don’t want the Guptas as customers .Bank of Baroda in India will close Gupta accounts next month, making salary payments difficult.

KPMG has suffered reputational damage through association with the Guptas. Last month Oakbay had to delist from the JSE after being left without a transfer secretary and sponsor.

The Gupta brand is toxic. And Manyi’s enduring support for the family may render him equally unbankable. When companies are bought and sold, it is common practice for balance sheets to be scrutinised as part of a due diligence process.

In this exercise, the balance sheet will usually reflect an amount for “goodwill”. This can be substantial. For example, in Naspers’ latest financial statements, net goodwill is R33 billion. Now consider the Gupta-owned assets.

Pariah status in financial circles is one factor. There is also the reputation of being propaganda peddlers. So-called analysts (including Manyi) used by ANN7 and The New Age have low plausibility. What goodwill could possibly attach to ANN7 and The New Age? Ill-will would be a better description.

Reflected on a balance sheet, it should be in the liabilities column. Manyi not only lacks credibility, his abrasive manner is a further liability. A front who causes affront.

Yet the Guptas seem to assume Manyi will be granted the banking access they have been denied. The vendor financing arrangement ties the Guptas to Manyi for at least as long as he is indebted.

In banking circles the Guptas are known as “politically exposed persons”. It would be surprising if he were to escape the same label.

On eNCA on Monday night, Manyi made it clear he would pursue the Guptas’ business model, based on promoting government “information” and advertising.

In other words, propaganda at your expense. Don’t forget the backdrop of the ANC succession race, with Manyi in the same camp as Jacob Zuma and candidate Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The Zuptas need propaganda tools to keep alive their election hopes. Looter continua will be impeded without political office.

But if the glare of the Financial Intelligence Centre is applied, amid further scrutiny by banks, then staff salaries at The New Age and ANN7 won’t be paid. And Jimmy-Come-Lately’s career as a media mogul will be short-lived.

DA city councillor for Joburg Martin Williams