Both the Mail & Guardian and City Press have, separately, detailed various links between a company at the centre of the controversy, EduSolutions, and President Jacob Zuma.

By themselves these connections are not necessarily incriminating but they raise questions, especially about the perceived delay in taking action against EduSolutions.

The M&G points out that EduSolutions’ parent company, African Access Holdings, is a major contributor to the Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that.

African Access Holdings’ chief executive, Shaun Battlemann, accompanied Zuma on a trip to the US, where Zuma was awarded an honorary doctorate, and attended an education fund-raising dinner with Battlemann.

Again, if there were no other factors to consider, that’s hardly a damning case.

However, EduSolutions’ track record is far from satisfactory. City Press quotes apartheid-era Vlakplaas police hit squad commander Dirk Coetzee, a former EduSolutions security consultant,  who lists disturbing disclosures about how the company operates.

According to Coetzee, EduSolutions hid “tens of thousands” of textbooks in a Gauteng warehouse instead of delivering them.

“Twelve truck and trailer loads of undelivered books were dumped in this warehouse. And when I talk about trucks, I mean 30-ton vehicles,” he alleges.

In the context, this is not a surprising disclosure, given recent reports of schoolbook delivery systems being in a mess and authorities being   provided with false reports that deliveries have been completed. Apparently it’s been going on for a long time.

No wonder service providers thought they could once again hoodwink authorities even after the Limpopo irregularities came to light.

Coetzee also claims to have introduced Battlemann to Zuma, who was Coetzee’s handler when the former Vlakplaas man spilled the beans on apartheid-era atrocities.

He also points to questionable links between education department officials and service providers in a tangled web of conflicting personal and commercial interests.

In theory South Africans should be able to take comfort in the knowledge that three separate investigations are under way into the textbook fiasco.

Zuma has appointed a task team of five deputy ministers to bring to account all those who played a role in delaying or stopping delivery.

This is in addition to a probe by Limpopo’s provincial government, and another by Mary Metcalfe to check who has and who hasn’t received the right books.

Regrettably, none of these is encouraging. Few would trust the Limpopo provincial government, half of which is under administration, to deliver an honest report on anything. Metcalfe’s probe is important but we already know that deliveries are flawed, despite court intervention and two firm deadlines.

EduSolutions have been slapped on the wrist. But if the company is as culpable as its accusers allege, we doubt the political will of Zuma’s deputy ministers to expose the rot at the core of this outrage.