Critical Reflections on State Capture in South Africa

Abstract

Institutionalised state corruption has morphed into a phenomenon entitled state capture in South Africa. State capture is the repurposing of the country's institutions towards private individual interests. In the process public interest is jettisoned in favour of private material gain for select connected individuals in the private and public sector. The issue of state capture dominated public debate about the future of governance in South Africa after the former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela's report titled State of Capture was released in late 2016. This document highlights how the Zuma-Gupta patronage network used state companies to enrich themselves. While some believe state capture to be a fairly new phenomenon, many analyst argue that it had been part of the dealings of the ruling party for years. It could be argued that it started post-1994, after the state adopted a variety of policies to re-allocate resources across a broad sector. This included incentives for black industries and Black Economic Empowerment strategies. This radical economic empowerment meant controlling the height of the economy instead of creating black-owned small and medium-size enterprises. With that in mind, this article seeks to provide critical reflections of state capture in South Africa.

How historical analysis can enrich scenario planning

“…Speaking broadly, the post‐Apartheid period was characterized by political crises and corrupt concentrations of power (Madonsela, 2019). Political tensions were still at play, with Zulus fighting with Sotho, Venda with Ndebele, and leaders of the white minority trying to create an autonomous governance zone, Orania, without success (Cavanagh, 2012).…”

“…Poverty and hopelessness were especially undermining large poor townships such as Soweto, Khayelitsha and Mdantsane, turning sections of them into breeding grounds for crime. The murder rate reached 50 per day, placing South Africa in the dismal league of Sierra Leone, Colombia and Afghanistan at the time.Speaking broadly, the post-Apartheid period was characterized by political crises and corrupt concentrations of power(Madonsela, 2019). Political tensions were still at play, with Zulus fighting with Sotho, Venda with Ndebele, and leaders of the white minority trying to create an autonomous governance zone, Orania, without success(Cavanagh, 2012).…”

A green transition in South Africa? Sociotechnical experimentation in the Atlantis Special Economic Zone

“…Southern Africa is experiencing unprecedented development challenges, some of which are legacies of apartheid, whereas others relate to the state's shortcomings in industrial policies, corruption and state capture (Madonsela 2018) and failures to generate anticipated development (Nel & Rogerson 2014). Unemployment remains an intractable problem: ‘from the end of 2008 to the end of 2016 more than twice as many people (2.8 million) joined the ranks of the unemployed than the ranks of the employed (1.3 million) … By 2016, barely four out of every ten working-age individuals were employed’ (Burger 2018: 1).…”

The Age of Sustainability

“…To date, the feminist critique of the so-called 'Zunami' (Hunter, 2011;, on the one hand, and the political economy of state capture on the other (von Holdt, 2013;Madonsela, 2018) have not been connected in the literature. Instead, the resurgent traditionalist misogynistic patriarchy that Zuma promoted has been treated as a distinct and separate phenomenon from the Zuma-led state capture project.…”