GUPTA HYSTERIA DEFLECTS ATTENTION FROM THE ECONOMY
The now familiar narrative is raging that the Gupta family has "captured" the State by "capturing" President Jacob Zuma. A new dimension is that the political left has latched on to what is essentially a conservative red-herring.
The Constitution of South Africa, often hailed as among the most progressive in the world, provides the framework of the State. It provides for three arms, namely the legislative, executive and judiciary. The design is deliberately aimed at constraining State power by dispersing it.
Ours State is firmly based on the Rule OF Law. The powers and functions of the different arms and other key positions are defined in law.
The theory of State Capture has been developed to describe the vulnerability in States without checks and balances for powerful business interests to appropriate the power of the State through control of processes of legislation, regulations, judicial decisions and public procurement. In a way it is a more concentrated form of corruption. According to the theory the bureaucracy acting in its own interests and those of political masters can similarly "capture" the State.
The fiction is peddled that President Zuma has undermined the independence of law enforcement agencies like the police and prosecuting authority, as well as State Security.