Pressure mounts on Zuma after release of SACC-sponsored state capture report

President Zuma is not just at the centre of a criminal network but is acutally at the core of a group of people who have managed to re-purpose state institutions for the benefit of a few networks, according to a group of academics studying state capture, reports Eyewitness News.

These claims are made in a report compiled with information passed on by the South African Council of Churches, which said last week that information given to its un-burdening panel, showed South Africa was on the brink of becoming a mafia state.

Meanwhile in a statement released by the presidency this morning, President Zuma says he is not opposed to establishing a commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture. He says recent reports that he’s opposed to remedial action recommended by the public protector is incorrect. However he says some of the remedial actions are irregular, unlawful and unconstitutional.

The academics who authored the state capture report entitled Betrayal of a Promise: How South Africa is Being Stolen explain in detail how they say the network centred around Zuma and the Gupta family operates and how Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba played a key role in setting it up.

They also claim that what has happened actually amounts to a silent coup.

The authors say that people who have tried to resist this such as former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, former deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and former government spokesperson Themba Maseko have been systematically removed, given other lucrative jobs to silence them, or hounded out through the use of dubious intelligence reports.

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The study also says that for this crisis to be resolved this entire network needs to be broken up.

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But the authors also say the country needs a new national economic consensus — in which real economic transformation occurs.