Had the ambitions of the South African president and his inner circle not reached as far as capturing the Treasury two years or so ago starting with the ouster of its minister, I wonder whether we would know as much as we do now about the level of decay in the relationship between the private and public sectors. Up until that moment, big business for the most part had shrugged off the ever-increasing difficulties of doing business in a country where choosing the right "middle-man" was fast becoming the way to gain the competitive edge, especially if your business faced some or other regulatory burden. There was nothing for big business to really fret about until it became clear that there was an elaborate plan to capture the Treasury and the institutions it controls, the South African Revenue Service and the Public Investment Corporation. Until that moment of clarity upon the ouster of Nhlanhla Nene, for corporate SA the idea of sinking capital into South Africa - and, to be fair, o...

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