Even if close to 200 of those same government officials were involved.
The following from our friends at Wikipedia:
"The ideology of the Führerprinzip sees each organization as a hierarchy of leaders, where every leader (Führer, in German) has absolute responsibility in his own area, demands absolute obedience from those below him and answers only to his superiors. This required obedience and loyalty even over concerns of right and wrong."
Maybe what worked for Germany does not work for South Africa, even though the same '...obedience and loyalty even over concerns of right and wrong.' seems to have taken hold, but in a different, warped way.
We can call this the Guptaprinzip, and define it as blind faith that your underlings will do the right thing, and if they don't then you are not responsible, if you didn't know.
Thus you don't have to take responsibility or admit that your department is broken, so long as a scape goat can be found that is responsible.
What really makes for fun reading is the government claim now that the Waterkloof Air Force Base is not a national key point, but a strategic military base. It is the busiest SAAF airbase in the country which hosts 21 Squadron responsible for VIP transport - including the presidents own jet. But no, that means it is only strategic, whereas his house in Nkandla is a national key point.
How does these two disparate facts agree in any ones mind? The Guptaprinzip applies once again, because we said so.
Because we allowed the Gupta family access and provided transport and protection without telling customs, it does not mean that they were given preferential treatment or that we are fallible or make mistakes, or that there will be any repercussions, because we didn't know, see?
I am reminded of a Shaggy song, that can apply even in this situation, it wasn't me, I didn't know, I wasn't told - therefore I am blameless.
The Guptaprinzip.
