Zumapocalypse: South Africa's harm is considerably more than the R100 billion lost as a result of a single man's legacy.

 

Looters flee with goods during pro-Jacob Zuma protests in Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal on 13 July 2021 (Photo: Gallo Images/Volksblad/Mlungisi Louw)

What would have happened to South Africa if the Gupta family, with the support of former President Jacob Zuma and numerous Cabinet bottom feeders, had not stolen at least R50 billion in public monies over several years?

In July 2021, a wave of violence swept through KwaZulu-Natal and, to a lesser extent, Gauteng for nine days. At least 342 persons were killed in a brutal and horrifying manner.

"Around R50 billion was wiped off the South African economy by the end of that week," according to a report by an expert panel investigating the July "unrest."

Jacob Zuma, now a convicted felon on unlawful medical parole, looms large, given the R50 billion lost to State Capture over several years and the R50 billion lost to the economy in a single week.

While Zuma is mentioned multiple times in the expert panel report, which was given to President Cyril Ramaphosa in November 2021 and chaired by Professor Sandy Africa, the panel did not entirely pin anything on him.

"On the night of July 9, a number of trucks and cars were destroyed on the National Route 3 (N3) at Mooi River Plaza," the day after Zuma's detention, "a number of trucks and cars were torched on the National Route 3 (N3) at Mooi River Plaza." The N3, an important road connecting the provinces of KZN and Gauteng, was closed as a result of this action."

Part 2 of the State Capture commission report, as well as extensive testimony by investigator Paul Holden, reveal the cost of State Capture to South African society - R49,157,323,233.68 to be exact.

Poverty, starvation, unemployment, deteriorating infrastructure, and the collapsing state we see in front of us are not an accident, nor is it a cruel and unjust twist of fate.

The expert panel's study presents a bleak picture of a post-Zuma world.

The report not only highlights the state's and law enforcement agencies' degradation of authority, but also the inefficiency and lack of collaboration between key departments and offices as the country faced lawlessness and violence "unprecedented in our post-apartheid democracy."

Zuma's personal command over the law enforcement cluster is what has allowed him to remain in power for so long.

According to the report, "some interests" were able to "take advantage of the levels of poverty, inequality, lack of service delivery, and social tensions to further their cause" as a result of the July violence.

The investigation stated that these interests, as well as the "masterminds" and their goals, remained "faceless."

While acknowledging that a complex swirl of conditions, notably the Covid-19 epidemic and a wrecked economy, contributed to the tinderbox of circumstances that converged on 8 July, the study makes it clear that persistent ANC factionalism remains a national security danger.

It's difficult to come up with a more critical evaluation. Oliver Tambo would be inconsolably sad. "I told you so," Chris Hani would remark with a nod.

Years of political mistreatment of the State Security Agency and SAPS Crime Intelligence have harmed capacity, according to the report. Intelligence gathered in the weeks leading up to the violence was not passed on, either due to ineptitude or on purpose.

The security authorities, on the other hand, were already overburdened before the looting and sabotage.

"Politically motivated killings or assassinations, for example, have been a recurring element of political struggle in sections of KwaZulu-Natal, worryingly, inside the ranks of the ruling party, the ANC," the research added.

"Seems to be expanding to other provinces and [is] symbolic of the tensions and divides between rivals and competing groupings (some would say factions) in the party," it continued, unexpectedly.

Then there's this: "There are other manifestations of a culture of lawlessness in South Africa: the destruction of infrastructure (e.g., theft of steel, copper on the railways), which was brought to the public's attention, and has been happening to a greater or lesser extent for a long time now; the pilfering of fuel from strategic supply lines; invasion of disused mines by illicit artisanal miners (zama zamas); the periodic blockading of national roads

Police arrest looters in Vosloorus amid pro-Jacob Zuma attacks on 13 July 2021. (Photo: Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)

Apart from the ANC's hot mess, the panel decided that the same ANC administration "at all levels" must "seriously address the country's socioeconomic difficulties."

If the panel did not emphasize "the enormous frustration expressed by, in particular, the civil society, business, and security sector delegations we met, that the government is not paying enough attention to this subject," it would be "failed our responsibility."