At the end of May a ragtag group of about 20 people marched on the private home of SA Communist Party deputy secretary-general Solly Mapaila. They made numerous threats and said Mapaila, a critic of the Gupta family’s capture of the state and corruption, must stop publicly criticising President Jacob Zuma. Among the group were known leaders of the MK Military Veterans' Association, the organisation led by Deputy Minister for Military Veterans Kebby Maphatsoe, who also have business links to the Gupta family.Interestingly, the marchers were accompanied by reporters from the Gupta-owned ANN7 television station. "You could see it's [march] co-ordinated from inside the Guptas. I understand why the Guptas would be angry because we're stopping them from stealing the resources of this country," said Mapaila then. Two weeks ago an anonymous website published pictures from the illegal surveillance of Peter Bruce, editor-at-large at Tiso Blackstar (owners and publishers of this newspaper and ...

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