State capture findings leave Zuma and allies bruised

Jacob Zuma and his radical economic transformation (RET) faction are expected to defend themselves tooth and
nail against the damning findings of the State Capture Commission reports.

They have to do so to mount a significant challenge, not only to the whole concept of state capture – which has damaged the image of Zuma in the eyes of many – but also to President Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC’s elective conference in December. Prof Susan Booysen said on Wednesday, the RET would always find a crutch to walk with even when they had no legs to stand on.

“They will say they are being targeted and victimised. I won’t be surprised if they challenge the Zondo report, they have a lot at stake,” Booysen said.

“They will fight by all means at their disposal. They will try to rescue themselves and their image.”

She said the Zuma camp had been be trying to delegitimise the judiciary in the last few years. According to her, the attack on the judiciary is part of their “Stalingrad strategy” to fight to the bitter end.

ALSO READ: State capture report: Anoj Singh, Gupta cash and the safety deposit box

“They would not accept the word of the judiciary as final and that is exactly what [Tourism Minister] Lindiwe Sisulu is doing,” Booysen said. She also noted that one aspect which might play into RET hands was that there might still be those loyal to Ramaphosa who are named in state capture reports.

“I imagine they may not have been great architects of the state capture project but a few names from that faction might come in the last report,” she added.

The two parts of the state capture reports had more than 1 000 pages of damning evidence against members of the Zuma supporters, such as former ministers Malusi Gigaba and Lynne Brown. In the Transnet portion of the report dropped on Tuesday night, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo noted state capture at Transnet began in 2009 when Zuma was elected president.

“In May 2009, following the national elections, President Zuma appointed Ms Barbara Hogan as minister of public enterprises,” said Zondo.

“From Hogan’s earliest days in office, President Zuma interfered and sought to thwart her appointment of a new [group chief executive officer] of Transnet.”

Political analyst Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the RET members would not give up and instead they might take the commission results on review, claiming to be targeted and victimised by Zondo. They will defend their prestige
even when the Zondo commission named them directly.

“First, they are not going to take the finding seriously, but the writing was always on the wall that they would be found to be behind the state capture project. This is because the scope of the commission was too narrow and
focused on Zuma and his factions, giving an impression that they were the ones who facilitated the state capture,” Breakfast said.

ALSO READ: Anoj Singh sat in Eskom meetings while still at Transnet, Zondo hears

There is a political element in the notion of state capture because the timeframe and scope show it targeted particular individuals. But I don’t think this will affect the RET people. The thing is you can have the media favouring you but it will not win you the conference votes because the delegates are the ones who decide, not the media,” he said.

“Take the battle to the branches where it matters the most. We need the media because we know what we know as a result of what the media tells us, but media is not perfect.”

He said it was still early days and Ramaphosa and his faction cannot rejoice now. The RET faction had more up
their sleeves, which they planned to launch towards the ANC elective conference in December.

They might lose the battle but they will give Ramaphosa a good fight.

– ericn@citizen.co.za