Remove from your midst these vile sycophants

SA is hurting with shame, Mr President, and we need you to lead.

SINCE meeting you for the first time in London in 1988, when you gave evidence on commission to be used in Pretoria in the treason trial of State v Ebrahim Ismail and Others, we became friends and addressed each other as "my brother".

I was counsel for the defence. You, Ronnie Kasrils and John Nkadimeng were the star witnesses for the defence. Justifiably, therefore, I am qualified, I believe, to pen this note to you as an appeal from the heart of one brother to that of another.

Recent news reports (though not admitted by those who speak for you) intimated that you were "hopping mad" because you anticipated that you might be blamed for the scandal and embarrassment caused to South Africa by the Gupta family.

I admit that I had serious reservations about the veracity of these reports. I would imagine that you would at least be provoked to anger. To my simple way of thinking, like millions of like-minded South Africans, you should have been stricken by utter shame because you had created a state of affairs that enabled a single family of crass opportunists from India, who have absolutely no allegiance to our beloved country, to successfully - and no doubt craftily - outmanoeuvre all the security and customs processes, systems and checks, resulting in a passenger aeroplane, laden with civilians attending a wedding party at Sun City, landing at the Waterkloof Air Force Base.

You can be sure, Mr President, that the whole of South Africa, including the ANC that recently gave its stamp of approval on your leadership for another five years, is hopping mad. Read the correspondence in the newspapers, listen to the phone-in programmes on radio and the whispers and blatant criticism floating around, and you will realise that our country is hurting with embarrassment and shame - not so much because of the Guptas, but because you did not appear to see this racing in your direction like a tsunami.

We all saw this coming. How come, Mr President, you didn't? You must have suffered much unnecessary pain as the evidence in the Schabir Shaik trial unfolded. He claimed, without demur from you, to be your financial adviser. He purported to have a special relationship with you and, through you, with other politicians and decision-makers. He attached a label to this category of relationship - he called it "political connectivity". In his judgment at the end of the trial, Judge Hilary Squires called it "a mutually beneficial symbiosis".

Mr President, most of us know that it is in your nature to be amiable and friendly. You respect the relationships formed with comrades during the struggle and those with whom you became friends after your return from exile.

I know also that, being pivotal in the intelligence structures of the ANC in exile, you are intelligent, astute to the point of being cunning and as sharp as a razor.

Equipped with such qualities, you must be able to recognise the falsity of and true motives behind an invitation to present yourself as guest of honour at a golf tournament when you have no interest in golf, or as a special guest at a wedding when you hardly know the couple to be betrothed, or for lunch to the Gupta home.

You must surely possess the intelligence to appreciate that the Guptas are not allocating to your son Duduzane a significant portion of shares in their companies out of a sense of benevolence and friendship. You must have realised that the Guptas employed one of your dear wives not because she possesses unique skills and know-how, but because she is Mrs Zuma. No rocket science is required, Mr President, to realise that the Guptas and many others of their ilk queue up and fall over each other to offer such friendship, hospitality, benevolence and assistance to you and members of your family not because of love for or devotion to you, but because this provides them with the key to the doorways of opportunity they so easily enter.

Your name would have been used by the Guptas as a means to secure acquiescence. All those complicit in this unwholesome saga were unfortunate slaves to the notion that "the Guptas are closely connected with President Zuma" - a perception that is not only irresistible, but manifestly inescapable. Is it surprising, then, that the Guptas actually believe that they can influence appointments in government, or determine who travels with you or even sits next to you on state-organised business trips?

If you don't watch out, Mr President, the Guptas will shortly be telling you and the ANC how to run this country.

Debates in parliament will be convened. The findings of investigations by the government departments involved will be presented. Further debates will take place. Name-calling and finger-pointing will result. When the dust settles, one thing will be as clear as crystal: the Guptas caught the whole country napping, pulled the proverbial wool over our eyes and made us the laughing stock of the world. To describe it as a rape of our country's dignity is an understatement.

It was therefore heartening to witness the uncompromising statement by Gwede Mantashe, secretary-general of the ANC, threatening decisive action against all those who might be found to be responsible for this debacle created by the Guptas.

It is a welcome indication, I hope, that the ANC is sending out a clear message that "enough is enough".

Mr President, you are our president. To those who voted for the ANC, and even to those who did not, you shall remain "our president" until you vacate office.

Our country is bleeding from the effects of crime. The public purse is being stripped through widespread and increasing corruption. Abject poverty, homelessness and unemployment are on the rise. If you make some time to visit the outpatient department of any public hospital, you will see for yourself the hardships experienced daily by thousands in our health system.

Your leadership, as well as that of the ANC, are needed now more than ever before. Remove from your midst these vile sycophants and praise-singing opportunists who, like a cancerous sore, have the potential to spread throughout the portals of power. Discourage the cronyism that is threatening the very fabric of our society. Take the lead. Regain the moral high ground that those who know your true contribution to the liberation of our country associate you with.

Mr President, you can be sure that the conduct of the Guptas, exacerbated by the negative effects of the latest scandal, is a talking point among people all over South Africa. I fear that there is the very real possibility that self-respecting and incorruptible Indians in our country might be tarnished by the same dirty brush.

You can be assured that every self-respecting South African Indian rejects the antics of the Guptas, who happen to be Hindus by religion. Hindus, generally, belong to a religion and culture known for its high moral values and ethics, and denounce in the strongest possible terms this highly manipulative and opportunistic conduct and public boasting of opulence, pomp and pageantry for a wedding in a country so rife with poverty.

But I suppose that the Guptas must be emboldened by the belief that they enjoy a cosy relationship with the president of this country, so little else matters.

Mr President, I know that you have access to many brilliant lawyers among the best that money can buy. You should take the trouble to seek counsel on the implications of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act of 2004.

This act, which is a creation of the ANC-led government, is a model piece of legislation that can be an effective tool in our fight against corruption. This act makes punishable the giving or taking of a "gratification" - the definition of which is so wide and all-embracing that the days of a "free lunch" are no more.

Perhaps more important for you is the serious possibility that the National Prosecuting Authority or some other interest group or interested person may one day investigate the nature of the business relationship between Duduzane and the Guptas.

If it can be proved, for example, that there is a disproportionate relationship between, on the one hand, the amount paid or security given by your son for the shares in the entities involved and the actual value of the shares, on the other, then this could well be construed as a "gratification" for the purposes of the act. If a prosecution in terms of this act is instituted against the Guptas, I can already visualise the thrust of the state's case.

Again, Mr President, you will find yourself in the throes of another scandal, like you were exposed to in the dirty linen that was washed in the Shaik trial.

Lead by example, Mr President. You owe it to Oliver Tambo, Griffiths Mxenge, Chris Hani, Walter Sisulu, Solomon Mahlangu and the many thousands more who laid down their lives for our freedom. You owe it to the ANC. Most of all, you owe it to our country.

• Naidu is senior counsel in the high court