State capture? Who cares…

It is a hugely unhealthy sign of the desperate lack of real governance in this divided country that the more Gupta-related e-mails that come to light, the deeper becomes the feeling that the ruling elite seems simply not to care.

This is a deeply concerning consequence stemming from the armoured laager of indifference within the confines of which the ruling clique have surrounded themselves.

The continuing leak of Gupta-related e-mails represents a dossier of disdain for the common citizen which would sink most democratic governments – even if only a minority of the revelations prove to have any real bearing.

And the unfolding saga tends to show that this is being falsely conservative. Further evidence of “state capture” was revealed at the weekend by the DA, which claimed Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane had failed to declare a trip to India in October 2012, alleged to have been paid for by the Gupta family. But no mention could be found of the trip following a check of the relevant declarations of members’ interests.

Zwane, at the time Free State MEC for agriculture, drove the provincial government to adopt a project in June 2012 – a dairy business dominated by Gupta-affiliated company Estina.

By the time Estina was kicked off the project in 2014, the provincial government had paid the company about R184 million in taxpayers’ money.

Dozens of e-mails, invoices and other documents show the family had significant control over the scheme – and sucked about R84 million to a company they controlled in the United Arab Emirates.

“It runs across multiple ministerial positions and departmental officials and, the longer it drags on, clearly the more damaging it is for the ANC,” is the way political analyst Daniel Silke typified it.

Yet the state capture report remains stranded in limbo. And many named in the leaks hide in plain sight.