By Morgan Phaahla
We have learnt it’s “a manner of speaking” to accuse anyone of being an agent of state capture, without any shred of evidence.
How ironic that those who peddle such gossip profess themselves as public servants, in order to look innocent, although they are probably not. For there’s circumstantial evidence linking them to the state capture mayhem, nullifying the so-called “nine wasted years” narrative as devoid of honesty and truth.
These actors in high places used every trick in the book to project themselves as righteous characters. Yet they obstructed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane from revealing their evils, so that not even a whiff of sleaze is in the public domain.
They went to great lengths to vilify Mkhwebane as ineffectual, naïve and overreaching in a matter canvassed under the purview of a private presidential campaign. That’s an escape technicality. The ultimate goal is to ascend the public office by any means, though without violating the parliamentary code of conduct and disclosure requirements stipulated in the Executive Members’ Ethics Act.
Besides vexatious litigation at the taxpayers’ cost, there’s a widely held view that Mkhwebane was muzzled for exposing the second phase of state capture contrived by those who had been scheming behind the scenes to get their hands on the throttle of power.
This has done more damage than good to the ideal of a new dawn, which sought to entrench a culture of transparency and accountability.
Let’s think of the proceeds of crime or graft that landed in the coffers of the presidential campaign, whose beneficiary is the head of state. That’s likely to beget the “pay back the money” protest.
At worst, if it were to be revealed that certain fugitives and other notable characters were benefactors of the campaign, it would be hard, cold facts of the state capture reality.
The Star