Catchphrases quickly move from being nifty idioms that ignite thought to clichés that stifle it. Such is the likely fate of “state capture”, a phrase that features in virtually every media account of President Jacob Zuma’s controversial relationship with the Gupta family. But what has been happening in the past weeks is not about state […]
Guptagate
Posted inNews/Politics
Is there a ‘reasonable person’ in charge of SA?
This week President Jacob Zuma went to Parliament to account to the people, as constitutionally a president periodically perforce must. The key issue was the role that his political benefactors, the Gupta clan, allegedly play in ministerial appointments. What a nation agog over a series of revelations from within African National Congress ranks had hoped […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Marie biscuit corruption shows up the rot
This week a minor official, corrupted with a packet of Marie biscuits, highlighted starkly the present rot and inequities in the nation. Corruption is endemic to all political systems. What differs is how it is dealt with. Because governments in Western democracies are easily voted out, popular outrage over corruption is assuaged by periodically acting […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Guptagate, a scientist’s point of view
In the past few weeks of politics in our country, it transpired that politics can be a dirty playground meant not for the fainthearted. Since the dramatic saga hit the news, and still receiving immense attention in popular media, some friends perhaps sensing that I am “mum” about the issue have asked what my reflections […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Guptagate : Guptas land without permission or fuel
Aakash Jahajgarhia (24) and his fiancée Vega Gupta (23) are set to tie the knot with a lavish wedding, over 4 days, at Sun City starting on May 2. Vega is the niece of the three powerful Gupta brothers who own, inter alia, the New Age newspaper and Sahara computers. Mazeltov to the couple, the […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The flood caused by opening the Guptagate
It’s been three days since #Guptagate was the top trending topic in South Africa on Twitter and it does not seem like that’s going to change until the weekend. From recent observation, I’ve noted that South Africans are all too eager to jump on the bandwagon and add their two cents to any news story […]