The State Capture Questions

Let's get some perspective on this whole idea of State Capture as is currently the buzzword of South Africa.

Apparently, everyday South Africans are concerned by the recent exposition of the #Guptaleaks. This was a bunch of emails and other communiques that showed collusion between the Gupta brothers and their business clashing with state interests.  Before we go to for, here is an organogram of Gupta business interests and acquisitions. 

The perspective we are giving you here is this. State Capture is not an invention of the Guptas. They are also not the very first to try and buy /create a newspaper, a news company and buy into housing and energy. 

They are likely one of the very first to succeed, though. I would like our South African Readers to please think, and take a moment to really think. When last did you hear of a new TV network/station/group?

Also, please consider the high level at which the Guptas are doing business. They had to buy airtime on the now international Multichoice Network, and have been on air for less than 5 years. It was a joke at first, wasn't it? look up the many 2013/2014 videos of ANN7 presenters totally fucking up on live TV. 

Was anyone crying 'state capture!' then? No, they were laughing as newbs were failing at running a TV station.  Or when The New Age newspaper came out at about the same time. Cheapest alternative to the Mail & Guardian we had, and their Writers were really exploring good stories.  No one cried media capture, then, did they?

Now, let us look at Johann Rupert. A name that is only on the names of people who care about business news and big money. he is not a household name like the Guptas. Why is this so? When he is doing the exact same thing they are doing. Maybe he's making a bit more money, actually. 

This Writer would go as far as saying that Johann Rupert is further along the Capture of the Republic of South Africa than  any Gupta has ever gotten.

This organogram is clearly larger than the Gupta one above.

 But why isn’t he in our front page, 2^nd page, 3^rd page news, being insulted and sworn at by Julius Malema? His interests in the control of South Africa's resources seems far clearer. He has more fingers and has them in every pie. Medicine, land, real and fake money, media, everything Why are his assets not being frozen and his accounts being scrutinized? Is it because he’s White and the Guptas aren’t? Is it because he is so firmly entrenched in the system, to remove him would do more damage than good? Or is it maybe because he is more skilled at the character assassination game than the Guptas are? The EFF has made a serious error by siding with the popular sentiment on #GuptasMustGo. They have erred by not simultaneously attacking White Monopoly Capital as Andile Mngxitama does with his split organisation. Instead, by going on News24 insulting A. Mngxitama, they re-enforce Johann Rupert’s position and are making it harder for them selves to achieve the fable economic freedom in our lifetime. We won’t get it by fighting each other.

Because names like Rand Merchant Bank and Unilever are bodies of common knowledge. eTV has been in South Africa for over 10 years, now. Yet why are we not asking HAS THE STATE BEEN CAPTURED ALREADY? And if so, who’s control is it under? The Chaotic Front has a few guesses.

We would like to point the reader to The Chamber of mines and every mine within it. We would like to point to the Rand Merchant Banks and the infrastructure/logistics companies like Grindrod. Are they under scrutiny? Why is it that the people with shame attached to their name happen to be Johann Rupert’s competition.

Capital is dangerous, and capitalism more so. Monopoly capital driving the blade even deeper. It has been very easy for South African newspaper cartoonists to draw caricatures of the Gupta family and the President elect.

It is not coincidence, that after Black First Land first lay charges against +-17 banks in South Africa, that their name starts becoming attached to the Guptas. in fact, the little funding that BLF had was built through rigorous touring and labour by the team at BLF. But it seems that there is a clear plot of character assassination and misdirection here. Because if you look at the picture above, and then ask your self “what will change if the Guptas leave?”

If you are honest and informed, you will find your answer to lean towards pathos, as any knowledgeable businessman knows that the closing of one business means the booming of another. All these mining assets the Guptas worked to attain, who will take over them? The employed human capital at Gupta companies? What will happen to them? A couple of ANN& and New Age media houses. What will happen to variance of opinion and institutional competition?  Is it not starkly clear that Johann Rupert and his companies have the most to gain from destroying the credibility of the Gupta family? Hey there, Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse, I’d like to tell you that you are as duped as many. But the hope is that your group is more aware and self-analytical than most. Check your selves and your interests. It has become clear to us as the Writer that South African sentiment is being yo-yoed around for the profit of a minority. Tell me, Dear Reader. do you think #StateCapture has had anything to do with you? These are big boys playing big boy games and your sentiment is just a little pawn floundering on a macrocosmic board. This State Capture business is a mass distraction, we warn thee.

One last non- question:

Did the Guptas originate the #statecapture plot or were they just buying into a game that was already way past the beginning?