Gangster State

where, in 2010 , a company called Khaya Readykit started doing work
for government.^1 Khaya Readykit specialises in alternative building
technologies (ABT). It has a patent on special timber wall panels that
are manufactured in factories and then transported to building sites,
where they are erected on top of concrete foundations, and covered
with a binding agent and a few layers of plaster. According to the
company’s website, this method allows it to finish new structures much
faster than traditional building contractors can. In addition, the
buildings are allegedly just as durable as houses with brick walls, but
cheaper to put together.^2 The technique can be used for low-cost
housing, clinics and classrooms.
Khaya Readykit’s promise of cheaper, better structures caught the
attention of officials in KwaZulu-Natal. To navigate the province’s
highly politicised construction environment, the company hired a
‘contracts agent’ for its work with government.^3 Considering the
function this person was required to perform, however, he could be
described as a ‘fixer’ of sorts. This role was assigned to businessman
Vikash Narsai, who appears to have operated on the periphery of
Zuma’s circle.
Narsai’s company, VNA Consulting, brands itself as a ‘multi-
disciplinary professional services consultancy’ in South Africa’s ‘built
environment’.^4 VNA is also unabashedly pro-ANC. In 2012 , the
company bought a full-page advert in the Progressive Business
Forum’s magazine, Progressive Leader. Next to an image of the ANC
flag superimposed onto a map of South Africa, Narsai congratulates
the party on its 100 th birthday, saying that VNA is ‘a proud supporter
of the African National Congress ideology’.^5
Narsai featured vaguely in the Arms Deal mess. He was listed as