When black empowerment becomes the excuse for looting

South Africa is a country where it is not only difficult to tell truth from fiction but, when it comes to politicians, it is sometimes near impossible to distinguish between reality and satire.

Former president Jacob Zuma has done it again as the principal exponent of the straight-faced line which at first seems like a bad joke but is, in reality, anything but.

Now he claims – according to reports yesterday about his defence strategy in his upcoming corruption trial – that he took backhanders from people like Schabir Shaik in the furtherance of the cause of black economic empowerment (BEE).

The reports claim his lawyers are preparing his argument that his involvement with Shaik and, through him, foreign defence companies, was in pursuance of ANC BEE policy. That argument, we would suggest, is in the same mould as the one he used in his rape trial, when he said he showered after sex with an HIV-positive woman (the daughter of an old friend, by the way) because he believed that would lessen the chances of him catching the infection.

However, Zuma’s strategy would be a joke if it was not such a serious threat, both politically and socially, to the future of the country.

His stance implies that any malfeasance can be excused as long as the beneficiaries are black. And, in the process, it devalues the whole concept of BEE because he appears to confirm the policy is a way for a minority to enrich themselves and for business to buy influence with the government.

If that is his explanation, then one can see clearly why the state capture project happened so quickly and so broadly … and why it was accompanied by a race-based propaganda campaign funded by the Guptas.

BEE is desperately needed in this country – but it must not be hijacked by a greedy clique.