Power-drunk Rupert's illusions of virtue Pinky Khobane, The New Age, Johannesburg, 29 March 2016 Cry our beloved country: a newspaper front page on Johann Rupert lashing the ANC about state capture. The son of a Broederbonder, a National Party member and an apartheid supporter who made his money from ill-gotten wealth, calls for the removal of a democratically elected president to the deafening silence of our intellectuals. Emboldened by calls by some sections of the media that have also called for Zuma's removal, Rupert thinks he can order and direct the course of South Africa's history. In a strongly-worded statement at the weekend, the ANCYL lambasted Rupert, insisting that only ANC branches could remove Zuma from office. Here's the little bit that South Africa and Rupert conveniently forget. Johann is the son of billionaire Anton, who in 1966, was mentioned as a possible National Party prime minister as part of "Verwoerd must go," campaign according to Wikipedia. The Cape Province of the NP chose Rupert over Verwoerd as a moderate who could change the image of South Africa abroad. Within a month, Verwoerd was murdered and the leadership taken over by John Vorster. The Ruperts have been able to rehash their image as that of a family that emerged shortly before the democratic dispensation and to which they contributed positively. In its amnesia, this country conveniently forgets that the Stellenbosch businessmen who approached the ANC while in exile didn't do it out of goodwill but due to the financial squeeze emanating from the imposition of economic and political sanctions on South Africa. Rupert suffers from the arrogance of power which confuses itself as virtue. The discourse on state capture is nothing more than the battle for South Africa's economy and the economic policy that will be driven by the presidential candidate who will emerge from the ANC's elective conference next year. Will the ANC remain beholden to white capital and the Washington Consensus or will it take a progressive shift towards dealing with the unfinished business of 1994 and deliver the second phase of the National Democratic Revolution to its people? The past twenty-two years have been about establishing political democracy, establishing a constitution that protects the rights of citizens, establishing democratic institutions, transforming the military and so forth. That era is now over as the largely black marginalised have run out of patience. We cannot continue to have 80% of the land and the economy being run by a few; 60% of all income in South Africa is in the hands of 10% of the population. A combination of recent events must make those, like Rupert, who want to hold onto economic power, very nervous. South Africa's relations with China and Russia, the recent passing of the expropriation of land bill and Brics ,all point to an economic shift which will see the West and institutions like the World Bank and IMF, relinquish the stranglehold they have on the economic policies of developing countries. The establishment of the New Development Bank will bring to an end the ZionistAnglo-American financial and geopolitical hegemony. The race for the next president of the ANC is in full swing. As we approach the elective conference, newspapers and journalists will have the mammoth task of sifting through the barrage of information that will come their way to ascertain what is fact. My column on March 18, carried allegations of Rupert's intervention in the sacking of then minister of finance, Des Van Rooyen, has opened the debate on where SA's economy lies albeit slightly. Instead of dealing with the matter headon, the quarrel is on whether the said meeting between the billionaire and Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa took place. This is a distraction. Both have denied the meeting took place. The finer details of the meeting may be incorrect but I stand by our sources that Rupert had an influence over Van Rooyen's sacking. The Sowetan on Monday March 21, reported that Zuma had told the ANC NEC meeting that Rupert influenced the Cabinet reshuffle. The City Press, this weekend, also confirmed that the President had told the ANC NEC that a member of Rupert family had flown in from London and had told an ANC official of the market's unhappiness with van Rooyen's appointment. As I said in my column of that day: "The story may be apocryphal, but subsequent events showed that it was true". Joe Thloloe, Press Ombudsman at the time, when assessing a City Press' story, "Mbeki is Back" said: "Newspapers and journalists are allowed to throw their sangoma bones and speculate on what is likely to happen but their readings should clearly indicate they are speculative". I did at the beginning of my column ask the reader to: "Connect the dots". . Khobane is a writer and columnist From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/29032016/epaperpdf/4.pdf -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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