It’s been said of President Jacob Zuma’s various court battles that he employs the Stalingrad strategy of attrition. The reference is to the Red Army’s desperate battle for survival against the Nazis in the city in World War 2, fighting building by building. In Zuma’s case, every adverse court judgment would be appealed, every technical loophole explored, every possible delay exploited. But now that his government is assailed by exhaustive documentary evidence of the corruption that has become known as "state capture," the response is not Stalingrad attrition as much as Stalingrad omission. This is a simple but brilliant tactic, employed where there is no obvious recourse to the courts — even for serial litigators. It consists of routinely ignoring shocking revelations for which there is hard evidence. In this case, the Gupta state capture narrative has been backed by reputable authorities such as the public protector, the SA Council of Churches and academics from our top universiti...

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