SA in crisis, warns Business Leadership in ad fingering the Guptas

Cape Town - Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) stopped short of naming, in an advert, the Guptas as the family benefiting from state capture, but deputy chairperson Bonang Mohale didn't hold back when he was asked who the group was referring to.

BLSA is an independent association whose members represent South African big business leadership and major multinational investors.

On Tuesday BLSA published on its website an advertisement that featured in Sunday newspapers. It took out full page advertisements in several Sunday newspapers, making an urgent appeal to all elected leaders to help reverse corruption and state capture and to restore confidence in the economy.

The call comes amid mounting public pressure for President Jacob Zuma to step down and a looming vote of no confidence to be tabled by opposition parties in Parliament.

READ: Zuma haemorrhaging the economy, warns BLSA

"As corporate leaders BLSA makes an urgent appeal to all our elected representatives in parliament, and the ruling party and alliance partners in particular, to exercise their conscience in taking whatever immediate steps are needed to reverse corruption and state capture and to restore confidence in our country’s leadership, our economy and the future of South Africa," the advert reads.

It added that the business sector is under constant attack, despite providing employment for about 86% (13.5 million) of the country’s working population. They also provide the bulk of taxes that pay the salaries of 2.2 million government employees, said BLSA.

The organisation, which has sharply criticised Zuma's recent Cabinet reshuffle, said the move caused an unnecessary decline in South Africa’s global financial standing.

"It is businesses' job to say we need to speak truth to power," BLSA's Mohale, who is the former president of the Black Management Forum, told SABC news in an interview.

"These are elected leaders, they need to do the right thing to stop state capture, orchestrated by the president, benefiting one family."

When asked which family he was referring to, Mohale responded: "The Guptas."

In the advert, BLSA also said those within the government and ruling party who disagree with the president’s actions are being vilified and criticised. "[R]obust debate that has characterised South Africa’s liberation movement since 1912 is being silenced".

The group also hit out at those who made light of South Africa’s sovereign credit ratings downgrade.

"Certain individuals and organisations, who do not understand the severe implications of a weakening currency and sovereign downgrade to 'junk status', either deny the cause or use ideology and pseudo economics to dismiss the effects."

Standard & Poor's Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings both downgraded South Africa to sub-investment grade, also known as junk status. The two ratings agencies both cited Zuma’s decision to reshuffle his Cabinet as the main reason for their decisions, fearing that the move could signal a change in policy direction.

Lies and fake news

"Propaganda, slogans, racism, lies and fake news are misrepresenting the nation’s anger with state capture and corruption, attempting incorrectly to reflect this anger as an attack on the ruling party," the advert stated.

"With few exceptions, our state institutions and enterprises are poorly governed, inefficiently managed and over indebted, functioning way below their capacity and the expectations and needs of citizens."

BLSA said South Africa is being divided into three groups. This comprise an elite who it claimed benefit from patronage and corruption; those too fearful to do anything about it; and millions who will suffer as a result.

"All of these developments can be traced back to state capture centred mainly around the President and one family", said the advert, without naming the controversial Gupta family.

BLSA argued that it has no desire, intention or mandate to get involved in party politics.

"We respect the Constitution and the means by which political leadership is determined. These are matters for the citizens of South Africa and their elected representatives.

"However, we regard the present situation as the political and economic low point of our young democracy. We know that without decisive action by leaders in every sphere of South African life our future is bleak."

BLSA said on Monday that it wants to meet with Zuma, reported BusinessLive. The organisation said it aims to establish new terms of engagement because the trust between business leaders and the government had broken down irretrievably.