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Where all Rhodes’s shenanigans lead to the Gupta empire
In many ways Cecil Rhodes would feel right at home today in Zuma’s SA
At first glance, you wouldn’t think there could be scary similarities between Cecil Rhodes, the arch-imperialist, and the octopus-like Gupta clan. But apart from shady business ethics and overt racism, the most glaring trait the Guptas share with the colonial "colossus" is the cynical question that Rhodes ritually asked of everyone who stood in his way: what’s his price? Rhodes believed everyone could be bought. He practised this credo very successfully, boasting of "squaring" rivals and officials: today, we’d say bribing. The Guptas have profitably imitated the same contemptuous formula. After all, they emigrated from India and engineered a bold takeover bid to purchase our president. In their case, however, "squaring" can also be as cheap as flying a minister to Dubai and paying for a few days in a luxury hotel. Unlike Rhodes, who had to get elected prime minister of the Cape to achieve complete control, the Guptas simply had to acquire Jacob Zuma to take over running the country....
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