SA needs the state capture probe now

When Pravin Gordhan speaks out about state capture, the country sits up and takes notice. So it was yesterday in parliament when the former finance minister told the public enterprises committee that it needed to move quickly to initiate the probe into the murky affairs of state-owned entities.

And he was specific about why he was urging the haste: the Gupta family is apparently selling up its assets in South Africa. Gordhan pointed out that the sales – especially of mining company Tegeta, which has coal supply contracts with Eskom – are “not some ordinary citizen buying and selling something. These are entities and companies implicated in state capture.”

MPs were worried that the disposal of Tegeta, following the sale of The New Age newspaper and ANN7 TV station, was a prelude to the Gupta family abandoning South Africa.

That must certainly be a possibility, given the avalanche of negative publicity about them and about state capture which flowed from the “Gupta Leaks”.

DA MP Natasha Bazzone raised the spectre of the family relocating to Dubai, pointing out the United Arab Emirates does not have an extradition treaty with South Africa, meaning the Guptas might avoid prosecution for any of their alleged wrongdoings.

On the other hand, the transactions, as revealed so far, seem to have more than an element of “smoke and mirrors” about them, because there are a number of illogical business aspects.

It may also be that the family is lying low, but continue to pull the financial and other strings over its business and capture network – while awaiting the outcome of the ANC’s electoral conference to see whether the Zuma faction will continue to call the shots. In any event, the investigation into state capture must happen now.