ON THE MONEY
Mastering the art of conspiracy invention in bid to distract from the truth
The propaganda strategy that the Guptas have unleashed is a marvel to behold. You have to give credit to Bell Pottinger, the expensive UK public relations company best known for the $500m it was paid to produce fake news videos in Arabic during the US invasion of Iraq. The Guptas’ money is not going to waste. Bell Pottinger’s success in clouding and obfuscating the reality of what their clients have been up to has revealed an excellent sociological analysis of SA. How do you get the public to ignore their clients’ willingness to do anything for profit? Invent the concept of "white monopoly capital" (WMC) to exploit the racial animus and suspicion about big business in SA. Suddenly, the Guptas’ ripping off of Eskom, Transnet and other government entities seems less of a problem – the real problem is WMC. How do you get people to ignore the Guptas’ inveigling of government departments and state-owned organisations, directing business to their cronies rather than through open, competit...
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