WORLDVIEW: Urgently needed political role for business requires testicular fortitude.

We've received mixed feedback on our support for Sygnia's feisty CEO Magda Wierzycka who fired KPMG over its association with the Gupta plundering in SA. Among the accusations was one particularly irritated former SA corporate CEO who scolded that just because it's not in the media doesn't mean nothing is being done.

Perhaps. But given the dismal failure of the business world's "quiet diplomacy" over Apartheid, Zimbabwe, HIV and most recently the economy's lost decade under Zuma, it's hard to see the approach as anything other than self-preservation. Biznews colleague Quentin Wray touches on the subject in today's thoughtful contribution.

Quentin writes: "Jacob Zuma does not have a reputation as a classical scholar. He may be one, there's no reason why he couldn't be, but there is no evidence that he is. However I'm sure he understands that the parliamentary victory in last week's episode of our very own Game of Thrones is the very definition of a Pyrrhic victory. Zuma won on Tuesday despite even his most ardent supporters not having anything good to say about his leadership and accordingly still has a job, but his victory came at a very heavy cost to the ANC and the next two years is going to keep us on the edge of our seats.

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