The expression "take it with a pinch of salt" is an English idiom suggesting that one views something with a certain scepticism. I felt I needed at least a bucketful of salt when I read the MultiChoice spin attempting to convince us nothing was untoward in the half-a-billion-plus it paid to carry the ANN7 news channel, then owned by the Guptas. In fact, if we were to believe MultiChoice, it didn't even know that ANN7 was controlled by the Gupta family. It simply received an unsolicited proposal from a group of people who promised to bring "local black voices to reflect a more diverse local news coverage", signing them up and giving them R25-million upfront, along with two Nkandlas over five years. No due diligence was done, no checks on shareholding, management skills in running a news channel, experience or expertise - nothing. If paying millions upfront is the normal course of business, why is doing due diligence not? "The terms of the agreement were renegotiated and payments incr...
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