The DA-led catch-all investigation into Deputy President Paul Mashatile over suspected corruption has inadvertently morphed into an all-you-can-destroy buffet against black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.
This is the yet-to-be-told truth in this unfolding nail-Mashatile-at-all-cost campaign, which is intricately linked to how the post-election government would be shaped on the back of a weakened governing ANC, with the DA fancying occupying an office in the Union Buildings.
Proponents of this campaign, in their seemingly principled commitment to rooting out corruption, have decided that the best way to do so is to leave no black business unbankrupted and no entrepreneurial dream unshattered.
Surprisingly, in the words of one affected budding young black entrepreneur, who was confiding in colleagues in his industry, this tragedy has its genesis within the walls of the ANC.
You have those in the ANC who want to go into coalition with the DA.
“For them, the complexity of advancing their agenda lies in the principles they would propose to support a coalition with the DA, given that the policies of both parties differ significantly from one another,” said the budding entrepreneur.
How do you plan to convince the branches to support the coalition? How are you going to justify choosing the DA?
Appetite for ANC/EFF coalition
On the other side, the policies of the ANC and the EFF are closer to one another, even though the latter tends to go to extremes.
Despite the ANC and EFF’s largely aligned policies, the group preferring this option struggles to garner a majority of supporters within the ANC national executive committee.
“Therefore, the DA bloc in the ANC believed that the best way to counter a potential EFF coalition was to deal with the individual who could lead such a coalition, which is where Mashatile comes in.
“It’s about delegitimising this man, who has the potential to lead a coalition with the EFF.”
According to those close to Mashatile, the idea was to have the National Prosecuting Authority charge him before the elections so he could step aside.
“They needed to intensify the campaign before the elections. But they haven’t found anything to charge him with.
“In the process, they conducted an assessment of businesses in Gauteng that may have sympathies with Mashatile and are pursuing them. The targeted black businesses in Gauteng are under significant pressure.
“This includes businesses in the private sector, even those who do not do business with the government.”
Links with legal firm
A little birdie revealed this week that the acclaimed Johannesburg-based legal firm, MNS Attorneys, is one of the private companies that could soon slip under the Mashatile corruption watch radar.
The MNS story’s narrative is that the firm won millions of rands in contracts back when Mashatile was the Gauteng MEC for human settlements seven years ago, between 2017 and 2018.
Mashatile’s “friendship” with one of MNS’s directors was at the heart of the awarded government contracts, according to the storyline.
In a rebuttal, those sympathetic to MNS say that the company already had a standing contract when Mashatile became MEC.
So, he found MNS in the system. He didn’t bring them with him.
They acknowledge that years later, one of the MNS executives provided legal advice to the Manzi Mashatile Foundation, which Mashatile founded after his wife passed away.
However, they argue that this could not have had some retrospective influence on contracts awarded many years earlier.
Collateral damage
“They’re still going to target us. This is nothing. Unfortunately, we are all just collateral damage. They aim to bring down the big fish, Mashatile, and we are merely a sideshow,” said the despondent budding entrepreneur.
He continued: “A lot of black businesses are going through a lot of heat right now because of the agenda to sustain the onslaught against Mashatile.
“This whole thing is part of a bigger picture of political play, which some of us do not even control.”
In the bigger scheme, the wanton destruction of black businesses and executives has become a common feature under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration.
And yet, the ANC fails to see this trend as one of the sources of its electoral demise.
