The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) wants the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to instruct the Asset Forfeiture Unit to prevent the Guptas moving assets offshore.

As evidence mounts of industrial-scale corruption in South Africa's public sector, aided and abetted, it would seem, by elements within private enterprise, it's good to know it cannot go on forever.

The decomposition of South African state institutions has been blamed on corruption, but we must now recognise that the problem goes well beyond this. While corruption is widespread at all levels and is undermining development, state capture is a far greater, systemic threat. It is akin to a silent coup. The March 2017 Cabinet reshuffle was confirmation of this silent coup; it was the first Cabinet reshuffle that took place without the full prior support of the governing party. This is an extract from the just published report by the State Capacity Research Project entitled: Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa is being Stolen.

The rise and fall of the Guptas and their capture of a president will be studied in political and PR classes for generations to come. The good news is they are a spent force.

Social media exploded this weekend with news that UK-based PR firm Bell Pottinger - one-time spin doctors for the Guptas - has apologised "unequivocally" for some of the things its PR hacks had pulled off while in the pay of the Guptas. Now we know where the "white monopoly capital" meme came from. We also now know who authored the "radical economic transformation" nonsense that has been peddled by leading ANC lights. The leaked Gupta emails highlighted the role this firm played in stirring anti-white tensions in this country. Biznews takes a look at what went on behind the scenes, and the scale of the damage wrought by Bell Pottinger. The question some are asking is whether the PR firm can survive this outrage.

Millions of rands allegedly laundered by a Gupta associate, Eric Wood, were used to sponsor the awards that named presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma the South African of the Year two years ago. The South African of the Year Awards are run by the Gupta family-owned The New Age Company.

More evidence from leaked emails show how finance minister Malusi Gigaba - while still at public enterprises - and his successor Lynne Brown placed Gupta associates into key positions in state-owned companies. The Guptas benefited to the tune of billions of rands.

Rumours that President Jacob Zuma was about to resign and take up residence in Dubai - with the assistance of the Gupta family - sent the rand soaring to R12,70 to the US dollar on Monday morning. The president is now besieged not just by opposition parties, but a strong and growing faction within the ANC. The Sunday Times added fuel to this fire with stunning revelations of the extent to which the Guptas had managed to gain control of ministers and state-owned enterprises. 

We now have a clearer idea of how the Gupta-owned Tegeta got control of the Optimum coal mine from Glencore for a song, using its "special relationship" with Eskom. The deal stinks to high heaven. It involved imposing an impossibly high fine on Glencore for supplying under-sized coal to Eskom, which allowed Tegeta to move in and capture the mine - and resume normal business with Eskom. Former mineral resources minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi was fired by President Jacob Zuma for refusing to co-operate with the elaborate scam. Here's how it went down.

SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni's time at the airline may soon be over. This week Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse and the SAA Pilots Association brought an application before the South Gauteng High Court to have her declared a delinquent director. This is the first time in history an executive in a state-owned enterprise has been charged in this manner.

Joburg's new mayor Herman Mashaba inherited a frightening mess of corruption and graft in Joburg. City employees are being fired daily, and a special Forensic Unit has been set up to deal with the volume of corruption and fraud being uncovered. Sara Gonn at the Institute of Race Relations looks at what's going on in the city.

When the rand dipped past R17 to the US dollar in January 2016, it looked suspiciously like a coordinated attack. Now it has emerged that 18 banks were involved in manipulating the rand, and the Competition Commission says it is taking no prisoners. But will anyone go to jail or will white collar criminals get another free pass, as they always do?

Eskom’s claim that electricity tariffs are too low is hardly credible, says an uncensored report into the mess at the power utility. Among the problems it uncovered is that too many in management seemed far more focused on leveraging Eskom’s vast buying power for their self-interest, rather than to drive efficiencies, according to this investigation by Financial Mail.

In 2011 Sylvia Vollenhoven put together an explosive documentary explaining how R30 billion was allegedly stolen from government in the final years of apartheid. The SABC refused to air the documentary, claiming it did not meet broadcasting standards. As the documentary explains, some of this money went to Broederbonders, and there's allegations of a former apartheid-era minister rushing off to the US with suitcases of looted money. One Reserve Bank shareholder asked to see evidence that the Reserve Bank actually has the gold it says he does, and is told this is forbidden. Then there is the R1,1 billion "lifeline" from the Reserve Bank to Bankorp (now part of Barclays Absa), of which only the capital had to be repaid. And as Judge Willem Heath points out, this loan was guaranteed with government bonds. If that seems weird to you, imagine your mortgage bank lending you money to buy your house and using it's head office as the collateral. It doesn't get much weirder than this.

One of the targets of those calling for a public inquiry into the looting of state resources by apartheid-era monopoly capitalism is oligarch Johann Rupert, who last year called for Zuma to go. This is payback time. There is a long story behind this episode, going back more than 20 years when Sanlam-owned Bankorp (now part of Absa) received an illicit bail-out, funded ultimately by taxpayers. It is certainly worth re-opening this saga, but an inquiry would be pointless if it didn't also look into repeated allegations of bank-capture of the court system.

South of Johannesburg, in the dirt poor area of Thulamntwana, shack dwellers were promised houses of their own after President Jacob Zuma visited the area in 2010 and found people living "like pigs". Six years later, hundreds of residents who scraped and saved together money to get housing allocations say thieves have made off with their money, and then sold the same property multiple times.

2016 was the year of corruption, graft and political upheaval. In SA, President Jacob Zuma clings to power while working out how to avoid facing more than 700 charges of corruption. At SA Broadcasting Corporation, Eskom and other state-owned enterprises, the year was marked by a constant drip-feed of scandal and corruption. But SA is not alone. The presidents of South Korea and Brazil face impeachment proceedings as public outrage over corruption was found to have political consequences.

President Zuma has delayed signing off on the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Bill which South Africa is committed to enforcing in terms of its international obligations. It allows for warrantless searches in certain instances and would make it more difficult for corrupt officials to operate in the dark. The president believes aspects of the bill are unconstitutional. Chairman of the standing committee on finance, Yunus Carrim, says the committee will take its own legal advice on the matter and then let the Constitutional Court decide.

Former transport minister Sbu Ndebele has returned from his posting in the Australian High Commission to answer charges he received a R10m bribe for the extension of the eNatis contract to private company Tasima. Last week the Constitutional Court ordered the control of the Electronic National Traffic Information System (eNatis) be handed back to government after it was found that Tasima's five year contract entension, awarded in 2010, was unlawful.

Here's a fascinating story of how Royal Bank of Scotland stripped Scottish hotel owner Nigel Henderson of his life savings when it repossessed his hotel after he took out what he thought was a regular residential home loan. Turns out, the bank pulled this heist on 16,000 businesses, but is now facing the prospect of justice in the US courts, along with massive fines. South African courts take note - this is how you handle corrupt bankers. The only question is: will Bank of Scotland survive?

Finance minister Pravin Gordhan filed an affidavit before the High Court last week detailing several suspicious transactions involving the Gupta family, close allies of President Jacob Zuma. This is the latest instalment if a soap opera between various factions of the ANC. Gordhan has also given the middle finger to Shaun Abrahams, head of the National Prosecuting Authority, over his invitation to the minister approach his office to review its decision to prosecute him for fraud relating to supposedly unlawful actions taken while he was head of SA Revenue Services.

Jacob Zuma is a God-given gift to the DA and EFF. They should cherish it while it lasts. Because as soon as Zuma goes, so too will the coterie of acolytes he has surrounded himself with. The biggest beneficiary of his departure wil be the ANC, but that party hasn't figured that out yet.

Since the year 2000, SA has slipped from the 42nd freest country in the world to 105th - placing us in the bottom third. There are now 14 Africa countries rated higher than SA in terms of overall freedom. As Richard Grant explains, this creates a toxic environment ripe for corruption and graft.

It's now become clear that the Hawks' investigation into Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's allegedly unlawful behaviour while at SA Revenue Services is part of an internal war being waged within the ANC. Gordhan last week refused to attend a meeting with the Hawks, apparently on the advice of his lawyers who told him the investigation has no basis in law. Gordhan is fighting back, saying over the weekend that he would die to save SA from thieves. Just who the thieves are, Gordhan is not saying - for now.