ZUMA'S PALACE OF INTRIGUE

A cast of dubious characters are caught in the whirlwind of a political back to the future. They comprise the nucleus of the modern day equivalent of a medieval palace of intrigue. The characters include Jacob Zuma , and his entourage of official and personally-chosen unofficial companions - also known as "patrons for the bread" at the great man's table. The intrigue now revolves around a reported offer extended to Deputy Minister Mcebisi Jonas by members of the Gupta family and by ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte to be the next finance minister. It was also reported that Jonas turned down the offers to replace Nene, which led to Zuma's appointment of Van Rooyen. The debacle that followed, and its financial ruinous consequences, will plague the country for many years. As expected there have been an avalanche of denials to the allegations reported by the reliable London-based Financial Times. Nevertheless evidence continues to mount that the Gupta family played a pivotal role in Nene's firing, underscoring their influence as the arbiter in the selection of ministerial positions to facilitate their benefiting from a nuclear procurement programme. The collective mindset of the ANC requires all its members, including its alliance partners, to close ranks when faced with a crisis. Not so with the South African Communist Party (SACP) who have broken ranks with the ANC on the Gupta scandal. It's deputy general secretary called on ANC leaders to stop defending the Guptas and take action against them, because "it can't be that we have a state that is run by a family . . . " At first glance one may be inclined to commend the SACP for its public spiritedness. But, then again altruism has never been an ingredient of its totalitarian ideology. The SACP's concern is more basic and self-serving: break ranks with the ANC on the issue, publicly expose the Gupta family, and in doing so, regain its sphere of influence over Zuma, and those in the ANC supportive of the Gupta family. It will not be long before Zuma's Palace of Intrigue enjoys the popularity of the Game of Thrones. One is real and the other fiction - sometimes difficult to tell them apart.