STEVEN FRIEDMAN: Patronage politics scores big gains when it portrays itself as antiracist, so why is it not doing so?
As long as opponents of state capture can be portrayed as defenders of a status quo that rewards race rather than ability, support for their campaign will be limited, writes Steven Friedman
Why are opponents of patronage politics apparently ignoring a powerful opportunity to discredit it? A recent report suggested that the campaign against state capture was about to undermine its opponents’ strongest propaganda weapon — their claim that they are fighting minority racial control of the economy. But the campaign seems to be largely ignoring this important opportunity to change the conversation. According to the report, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and Lawyers for Human Rights plan to ask the Human Rights Commission to act against Rajesh "Tony" Gupta for allegedly calling two black security guards monkeys. It alleges that this claim of racist behaviour is not isolated and that the leaked Gupta e-mails show that the brothers also prefer to employ white people as hostesses, butlers and spa therapists. It said the ANC had been asked to support the complaint but it refused. We might have expected this to send opponents of state capture into overdrive. If there is one issue t...
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