DURBAN - Prominent Indian political leaders have slammed as “ludicrous” comments made by the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) that South Africans hated the Gupta family because they were Indian.
On Monday, the association’s newly elected secretary-general Wiseman Ntombela said the Guptas were South Africans, with citizenship. They were operating their businesses as all South Africans did.
Those opposed to them had an apartheid-era mentality of preferring whites over Indians, he added.
Imraan Buccus, a political analyst, said the MKMVA’s statement was ridiculous and it pointed to how low the association would stoop to defend rampant corruption in the country.
“It points to the fact that patronage networks are complex and that particular political formations in the country would stoop to any level to protect families like the Guptas who are known to be at the forefront of corruption scandals in South Africa,” said Buccus.
He said in an emerging democracy, there was a toxic line between between the political elite and the corporate elite. There were many corporate families in the country who engaged the state in business practices that were not entirely ethical.
“We need to be critical and expose corrupt practice wherever it may exist.
“But I think the reason the Guptas stand out is because of the crudeness of their consumption and their overt and rampant corrupt practice,” said Buccus.
He added that the Gupta family stood out because the manner in which they operated was toxic.
Although there were many families that operated in unethical ways, they were probably more subtle about it.
Haniff Hoosen, DA provincial chairperson, said it did not surprise him that the MKMVA would make such a ludicrous statement because they had a reputation of saying “mad things in the public domain”.
“The fact of the matter is that South Africans don’t hate the Guptas; what they despise is the fact that the Guptas are using their money and their political influence to gain an advantage over other hard-working South Africans who respect the rule of law,” Hoosen said.
He said the Gupta family had been using their influence and money to buy their way into government and get preferential treatment - something that South Africans detest.
The statement, said Hoosen, was absolute madness, as there were millions of South Africans of Indian descent who lived side by side with many races in the country and who make a positive contribution to South Africa.
Logie Naidoo, former eThekwini municipal Speaker, said there was no such thing as race in business, whether businesses were Indian or African-owned, although there was radical economic transformation in place, targeting particular racial groups that had been previously marginalised.
“I suppose that any family that comes into the country and gets a large slice of business is going to be under scrutiny, regardless of race.
“If a family came from overseas into South Africa and suddenly they own all the mining rights, South Africans would be against that.
“For me, it’s not a race issue. I think it’s that we have never supported monopoly capitalism in South Africa,” Naidoo said.
He said white monopoly capitalism had never been condoned, but in equal measure, “we also don’t support the fact that one family can to enrich themselves, because economic opportunity must be spread to all our people”.
Naidoo added that it was not about one family, group or race because South Africa’s political freedom was meaningless if people did not enjoy economic emancipation.