Cape Town - A team of research academics has raised alarm bells in its report about how South Africa is being stolen by those close to President Jacob Zuma and the Guptas with the president engineering the project.
In the 71-page report released, by academics from Wits University, Stellenbosch, University of Johannesburg and the University of Cape Town, they have listed how State-owned entities (SOEs) have been captured by the Gupta family since 2010.
The report detailed how Zuma has centred power to a clique and created a shadow state that has taken over the control of the state.
At the heart of this relationship are the same individuals and companies connected to the Zuma-Gupta network.
The report says these individuals are put in strategic positions in government and SOEs.
READ THE REPORT HERE
Those who are opposed to the network and shadow state are booted out of government. According to the report, this network has since 2010 has strengthened its hand in the levers of powers, and leveraging on billions of rand in procurement.
The scope of the network expands beyond the SOEs, but is located in key state security and intelligence structures.
Ajay and Atul Gupta File photo: Independent Media
“At the epicentre of the political project mounted by the Zuma-centred power elite is a rhetorical commitment to radical economic transformation,” said the report.
“Unsurprisingly, although the ANC’s official policy documents on radical economic transformation encompass a broad range of interventions that take the National Development Plan as a point of departure, the Zuma-centred power elite emphasises the role of the SOEs, particularly their procurement spend,” it said.
“Eskom and Transnet, in turn, are the primary vehicles for managing state capture, large-scale looting of state resources and the consolidation of a transnationally managed financial resource base, which in turn creates a continuous source of self-enrichment and funding for the power elite and their patronage network,” it said.
This week Parliament called for a full-scale inquiry into Eskom.
Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown has also announced her own investigation to Eskom, stretching to 2007 when load-shedding started.
Brown said her investigation will include coal contracts.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been roped in by Brown and she will appoint a judge to make recommendations on action to be taken against those implicated in corruption.
The report, titled “Betrayal of the Promise: How South is Being Stolen”, has also lifted the lid on the capture of the National Treasury.
It said this came amid other initiatives to create a shadow state, which includes getting rid of the good cops and intelligence operatives and replacing them with loyalists.