Ed Herbst: Billion Rand Babe outs the ANC’s Vampire State – BizNews

Stories of corruption flood South Africas newsflow on an almost daily basis. And with last weeks Cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma in which he purged Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas, the fear is that state looting could accelerate as the fiscal discipline that South Africa for so long adopted finds itself at risk. Of course, its easy to get caught up in the latest Zupta controversies, but as Ed Herbst outlines below, the looting of the state coffers has taken various forms in recent years and its tentacles reach far and wide. This frenzied corruption is critically also starting to result in key functions of the state starting to implode from the collapse of hospital ceilings to the Road Accident Fund being attached by the sheriff of the court. The vampire state is starting to eat itself. Gareth van Zyl

By Ed Herbst*

In a drought-sick future, with the Karoo fracked to fuck and our children sucking on mielie husks for moisture, we will be forced, North Korean-like, to bow before seven giant Russian reactors that dont work, and are home only to mutant Hadedas and rats as big as oxen. As the Americans are slowly learning, everyone has their price, and the Russians are willing to pay it.

Richard Poplack Daily Maverick 31/3/2017

The African vampire state is hard to reform because most necessary reforms would reduce the power and wealth of the people in charge. And the people in charge do not, on the whole, want to lose their privilegesSeveral African leaders have grown skilled at enacting the letter of reform while sabotaging its spirit.

Robert Guest The Shackled Continent: Power, Corruption, and African Lives

One can understand if not empathise with former Tourism Minister Derek Hanekoms dilemma and why, as the pseudo-anti-racism DJ, he unceasingly pumps up the Penny Sparrow volume while remaining silent about the relish with which Julius Malema predicts the coming genocidal attacks on whites, the Whites must burn to death call by our new Deputy Minister of Police, Bongani Mkongi and even more silent on the question of farm murders.

As the incessant clamour of the frenzied snouting at the trough becomes ever-more cacophonous, the Vampire State which Hanekom and his fellow somnambulists have assiduously created over two decades while resolutely avoiding anything that resembled preventative maintenance is imploding, quite literally grinding to a halt.

Koko Korruption

And, all the while the ANCs corruption Hydra re-invents itself with cute boutique enterprises such as the Smolanyana Skeleton Snouting at Eskom what I have called Koko Korruption.

Heres an extract from a letter by Colin Currell published in The Times on 5 December last year:

But in the wake of the scandal concerning Eskoms dubious role in the Guptas acquisition of Optimum Coal, and Brian Molefe falling on his sword due to his involvement, the Eskom board caught up to the SABC by appointing Matshela Koko acting CEO. Koko is well known to viewers as a result of an interview he gave as Eskom spokesman recently.

Devi Govender asked him, twice, if Gupta company Tegeta was paid an up-front fee by Eskom when they got into the deal to supply coal from the Optimum Mine to a nearby power station. Koko denied this twice. Govender then presented him with a copy of the contract, to which Koko was one of the signatories, which showed that Tegeta would be paid R659m up front.

At this Koko became flustered and said that perhaps he had made a mistake.

Either Koko is extremely economical with the truth, or he has a serious Alzheimers problem.

Completely unfazed, Koko, figuring that attack is the best form of defence, filed papers in the Western Cape High Court accusing the Democratic Alliance of defaming him with reference to the Dentons report which confirmed the continuation of decades of ANC-deployed cadre snouting at Eskom.

That little petard blew up with appropriate percussive force when Mzilikazi (Nothing left to Steal) wa Afrika posted a cracker of a front page lead in the Sunday Times which was aptly headlined Billion Rand Babe and which once again exposed the ANCs Vampire State in all its sordid infamy.

But the devastation caused by the ANCs Tsunami of Sleaze becomes ever more evident as Kgalema Motlanthe pointed out in his eulogy at the funeral of Ahmed Kathrada:

Comrade Kathy took exception to the current the culture of feeding frenzy, moral corruption, societal depravity, political dissolution, the gross and sleaze enveloping human mind that would put to shame even some of the vilest political orders known to human history.

ANC scandals

Consider this alphabet soup of recent ANC scandals

Not quite as obscenely obese as they will when they feast on the Rosatom scam but, from tiny acorns Ask the Guptas theyll tell you.

ANC municipal corruption

Heres the kicker:

Nine of the top ten municipalities are run by the Democratic Alliance, according to the report, with all 17 of the partys municipalities appearing in the top 40.

The bottom 10 municipalities are all ANC-run, with a showing from one IFP and one NFP-run municipality.

15 of the top 20 municipalities are in the Western Cape, while half of the 20 worst-run municipalities are in the Eastern Cape (followed by seven in KwaZulu Natal, two in Limpopo and one in North West Province).

Lets not, however, sweat the small stuff.

Chancellor House has set the bar extremely high and the ear-breathing deployed cadres have got to meet their targets.

In the Hitachi scam, facilitated by Comrade Valli Moosa, Chancellor House snouted a 5000% return on its insider trading investment. Boss Tweed would have approved.

As Smuts Ngonyama, our ambassador in Spain, pointed out when he snouted tens of millions of rands for facilitating a meeting a few years ago he did not join the Struggle to remain poor

Like the Mighty Mississippi the ANCs Tsunami of Sleaze just keeps rollin along ask Kgalema Motlanthe, hell tell you.

In a telling portent of what is to come, the Zuptoid state broadcaster sees its television audience share drop to 45%, an historical low and a tribute to the genius of Hlaudi Motsoeneng the most powerful person in South Africa and the man who, according to Ellen Tshabalala brings stability to the SABC.

And, despite the pleas of the clergy, rest assured that it has only just begun

What have we done?

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Ed Herbst: Billion Rand Babe outs the ANC's Vampire State - BizNews