In 2017, Crispian Olver unleashed a harrowing account titled How to steal a city: The battle for Nelson Mandela Bay, of how the African National Congress (ANC) captured the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality leading to the massive pilfering of the latter's kitty. His was an 'insider account' of someone who was seconded by the then Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Pravin Gordhan, to the municipal government with a mandate to arrest the decline of the ANC in the metro as well as to deal with the capture of City Hall by private interests. His account can be read as an allegory of how the metros in the country are ostensibly captured for narrow nefarious purposes by ANC political mandarins and corrupt thugs masquerading as businessmen. Fareed Fakir is best suited for this role. Furthermore, it could be argued that the narrative is a further testimony to how political offi