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> Ok, I find this very problematic - along the lines of 'Hey, our country is massively corrupt and dysfunctional, and these Westerners came in and didn't do rea

by sgift 8y ago

> Ok, I find this very problematic - along the lines of 'Hey, our country is massively corrupt and dysfunctional, and these Westerners came in and didn't do really anything really wrong or corrupt, there are other actors who are clearly to blame, but let's blame the Western Colonialists! That's the long and short of it. I read that article twice now and all comes down to 'South African law forced them to get a local partner' - a partner which turned out to be not so great - and 'The contract which was in objective terms great for the client (you only pay if you get a benefit) didn't look great because people in SA didn't like that a foreign company got so much money' -- that's about 99% of what this is about: We do not like the outcome of what we brought upon ourselves, so lets blame someone else. And if that someone happens to be from the West - even better.

deleted 8y ago
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wernsey 8y ago
The allegations are more that McKinsey specifically chose a partner that they knew was well connected with the political elite in order to have government business sent their way. Yes, it is true that the South African law forced them to get a local partner. During the apartheid years black people were limited in where they were allowed to work, and this law is an attempt to rectify the past. Unfortunately this law is also abused by well connected politicians to enrich themselves and their cronies. Where things went wrong for McKinsey here is that the local partner they chose, Trillian, had a shareholder that was a well known associate of the Gupta brothers, and the Gupta brothers had a relationship with the president, Zuma, and his son. It also later emerged that the CEO of Eskom and his CFO had a relationship with the Gupta brothers. [1] https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-09-14-scorpio-amabhungane-how-mckinsey-and-trillian-ripped-r1-6bn-from-eskom-and-planned-to-take-r7-8bn-more/ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-09-14-scorpio-a...
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  "The allegations are more that McKinsey specifically chose a partner that they knew was well connected with the political elite in order to have government business sent their way." On it's face, that's extremely rational and normal behaviour. The less transparent a government is, the more this is a necessity. Basically outside the Western world, and many places within, it's a given. Try getting a snow clearing contract from the Montreal City Hall ... and then find out 'who knows who' ...

by sgift 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

wernsey 8y ago

The allegations are more that McKinsey specifically chose a partner that they knew was well connected with the political elite in order to have government business sent their way. Yes, it is true that the South African law forced them to get a local partner. During the apartheid years black people were limited in where they were allowed to work, and this law is an attempt to rectify the past. Unfortunately this law is also abused by well connected politicians to enrich themselves and their cronies. Where things went wrong for McKinsey here is that the local partner they chose, Trillian, had a shareholder that was a well known associate of the Gupta brothers, and the Gupta brothers had a relationship with the president, Zuma, and his son. It also later emerged that the CEO of Eskom and his CFO had a relationship with the Gupta brothers. [1] https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-09-14-scorpio-amabhungane-how-mckinsey-and-trillian-ripped-r1-6bn-from-eskom-and-planned-to-take-r7-8bn-more/ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-09-14-scorpio-a...

sonnyblarney 8y ago
"The allegations are more that McKinsey specifically chose a partner that they knew was well connected with the political elite in order to have government business sent their way." On it's face, that's extremely rational and normal behaviour. The less transparent a government is, the more this is a necessity. Basically outside the Western world, and many places within, it's a given. Try getting a snow clearing contract from the Montreal City Hall ... and then find out 'who knows who' ...