State Capture in South Africa

Barney Pityana, Patrick Heller, Hennie Vuuren, Michael Marchant, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, Reg Rumney, Luke Spiropoulos, Devi Pillay, Cherese Thakur, Jonathan Klaaren, Ryan Brunette, Robyn Foley, Karl Holdt, Peter Vale, Mbongiseni Buthelezi

Description

A multidisciplinary analysis of how state capture unfolded in South Africa and how it was contested within both civil society and the state itself.

The metaphor of ‘state capture’ has dominated South Africa’s political discourse in the post-Zuma presidency era. What is state capture and how does it manifest? Is it just another example of a newly independent, failed African state? And is it unique to South Africa? 

The contributors in this collection try to explain the phenomenon from a variety of viewpoints and disciplines. All hold fast to the belief that the democracy that promised the country so much when apartheid ended has been significantly eroded, resulting in most citizens expressing a loss of hope for the future. Read together, the essays cumulatively show not only how state capture was enabled and who benefitted, but also how and by whom it was scrutinised and exposed in order to hold those in power accountable. The book aims to present a scholarly and empirical understanding of how things went awry, even with various regulating bodies in place, and how to prevent state capture from happening again in the future.

Introduction: Understanding and Explaining State Capture – Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale

Chapter 1 Elite Formation, Factions and Violence in the Political Economy of Corruption – Karl von Holdt

Chapter 2 State Capture, the Racket and Predatory Power – Robyn Foley

Chapter 3 The Foundations of Corruption in South Africa – Ryan Brunette

Chapter 4 Legal Mobilisation against State Capture – Jonathan Klaaren

Chapter 5 How Professionals Enabled State Capture – Cherese Thakur and Devi Pillay

Chapter 6 Civil Society in the Face of State Capture: Solidarity and Disharmony – Luke Spiropoulos

Chapter 7 Media Capture, the Mirror of State Capture – Reg Rumney

Chapter 8 State Capture and the Popular Imagination: Narrowing the Narrative – Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh

Chapter 9 Cycles of State Capture: Bringing Profiteers and Enablers to Account – Hennie van Vuuren and Michael Marchant

Chapter 10 Old Ways and New Days: An Interview with Barney Pityana – Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale

Chapter 11 Can Democracy Bind the State? Comparative Thoughts from Brazil, India and South Africa – Patrick Heller

Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Political Economy
• Political Science
• Sudáfrica
• Popular culture
• South Africa
• Public Protector
• Misconduct
• Arms industry
• Public administration
• Gupta Empire
• Civil society
• Political corruption
• Brazil
• Law
• India
• Gupta
• Corruption
• Media
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: WITS University Press
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776148349
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

A haunting theme of State Capture in South Africa is that South Africa is no different from most of the postcolonial world. It jars with the psyche of South Africans because so many of us did believe we would be different with our Constitution and the towering figure of Madiba. State Capture in South Africa also tells us why we are no different. It juxtaposes the structural explanations that direct us to historical processes, to deflection analyses that solely blame elites of the preceding racist and colonial society, to descriptive studies that explain the state capture underpinnings and finally, to comparative cases where similar processes play out and may even have been challenged. A must-read for all who are interested in the failed promise and future of this tragic land.
– Adam Habib, Director, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
In State Capture in South Africa , Buthelezi and Vale have curated an important academic and theoretical context to understand how this phenomenon manifested in South Africa. The book unravels the disparate elements of state capture and unpacks its political economy dimensions. The various actors and elite networks that enabled the capture of the South African state are identified, and their roles in undermining our constitutional democracy clearly expounded. This adds significantly to the discourse on re-establishing the democratic state.
– Lawson Naidoo, Executive Secretary, Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC)

Published in South Africa by:
Wits University Press
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www.witspress.co.za
Compilation © Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale 2023
Chapters © Individual contributors 2023
Published edition © Wits University Press 2023
Images and figures © Copyright holders
First published 2023
http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/22023068318
978-1-77614-831-8 (Paperback)
978-1-77614-832-5 (Hardback)
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Dedicated to Fanyana ‘Pelepele’ Buthelezi, 1951–2022
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
INTRODUCTION Understanding and Explaining State Capture
Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale
SECTION 1 FRAMING THE ISSUE
CHAPTER 1 Elite Formation, Factions and Violence in the Political Economy of Corruption
Karl von Holdt
CHAPTER 2 State Capture, the Racket and Predatory Power
Robyn Foley
CHAPTER 3 The Foundations of Corruption in South Africa
Ryan Brunette
SECTION 2 STATE CAPTURE IN ACTION
CHAPTER 4 Legal Mobilisation against State Capture
Jonathan Klaaren
CHAPTER 5 How Professionals Enabled State Capture
Cherese Thakur and Devi Pillay
CHAPTER 6 Civil Society in the Face of State Capture: Solidarity and Disharmony
Luke Spiropoulos
CHAPTER 7 Media Capture, the Mirror of State Capture
Reg Rumney
SECTION 3 PAST AND FUTURE
CHAPTER 8 State Capture and the Popular Imagination: Narrowing the Narrative
Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh
CHAPTER 9 Cycles of State Capture: Bringing Profiteers and Enablers to Account
Hennie van Vuuren and Michael Marchant
CHAPTER 10 Old Ways and New Days: An Interview with Barney Pityana
Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale
CHAPTER 11 Can Democracy Bind the State? Comparative Thoughts from Brazil, India and South Africa
Patrick Heller
CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX
FIGURES AND TABLE
FIGURE 2.1 The racket of predatory power in South Africa’s state capture. Graphic by Robin Foley.
FIGURE 2.2 The shape of state capture: roles and functions in the shadow state. Graphic by Robin Foley.
TABLE 2.1 Types of rackets that enabled state capture in South Africa.
FIGURE 8.1 Lenin Lived, Lenin Lives, Lenin Will Live Forever! Soviet propaganda poster by Viktor Ivanov and inspiration for Brett Murray’s The Spear (2010). Courtesy of Alamy.
FIGURE 8.2 The Spear by Brett Murray (2010). Image reproduced courtesy of Brett Murray/Everard Read Gallery.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T his collection has been long in the making. Our initial thanks must go to the authors of these compelling chapters who have made the almost four-year-long journey with us.
We are grateful to Jill Weintroub for her work on the initial edit and proofing of the draft manuscript. What a joy it was to work with her; at an earlier stage, Lweendo Hamukoma helpfully commented on the chapters.
Publisher Veronica Klipp, commissioning editor Roshan Cader, Corina van der Spoel, Andrew Joseph and Kirsten Perkins showed us why Wits University Press is a national treasure.
Among other instruments, edited books are the public face of academic and policy work. However, those who do the backroom labour necessary for this work to succeed are seldom acknowledged. So, and with much enthusiasm, this is a shout-out to the secretarial, administrative, cleaning and gardening staff at the Public Affairs Research Institute. Thank you for your selfless support.
The Editors
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ANC African National Congress BBBEE Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment BJP Bharatiya Janata Party CASAC Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution CIPC Companies and Intellectual Property Commission Cosatu Congress of South African Trade Unions CPS Cash Paymaster Services EFF Economic Freedom Fighters GEAR Growth, Employment and Redistribution HDW Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft IFP Inkatha Freedom Party IKL Ingenieurkontor Lübeck IRBA Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors JSE Johannesburg Stock Exchange KBL Kredit Bank Luxembourg MK uMkhonto we Sizwe NDPP National Director of Public Prosecutions NGO non-governmental organisation NPA National Prosecuting Authority Numsa National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa OCCRP Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project OUTA Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse from 2016) PARI Public Affairs Research Institute PRCA Public Relations and Communications Association PT Partido dos Trabalhadores PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers R2K Right2Know RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme RET radical economic transformation SAA South African Airways SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SACP South African Communist Party Saftu South African Federation of Trade Unions SAPS South African Police Service SARS South African Revenue Service SASSA South African Social Security Agency SCA Supreme Court of Appeal SCRP State Capacity Research Project SOE state-owned enterprise TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission UDF United Democratic Front UN United Nations Unisa University of South Africa WMC white monopoly capital
Introduction
Understanding and Explaining State Capture
Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale
LIFE MIRRORING FICTION
‘From the day a few years before when I had left Parliament depressed and aggrieved, I had felt, like so many other educated citizens of our country, that things were going seriously wrong without being able to say just how’ (Achebe [1966] 2001, 35). These words are spoken by Odili Samalu, the narrator of Chinua Achebe’s novel A Man of the People , who tells the story of his country’s postcolonial transition. After studying in the capital city, Odili has chosen to return to teach in a small village in his home region rather than work in an office in the capital, because he is disillusioned by the mismanagement of the country and the corruption he sees taking hold.
Later, in the same passage, he observes: ‘We complained about our country’s lack of dynamism … We listened to whispers of scandalous deals in high places – sometimes involving sums of money that I for one didn’t believe existed in the country … But sitting at Chief Nanga’s feet I received enlightenment; many things began to crystallize out of the mist – some of the emergent forms were not nearly as ugly as I had suspected but many seemed much worse’ (Achebe [1966] 2001, 35).
The year is 1960. Chief Nanga is Odili’s former teacher who has become a corrupt, philandering minister in the national government. The country is led by the People’s Organisation Party, which, it is revealed later, takes a 10 per cent cut off state contracts for its coffers (Achebe [1966] 2001, 106–107). The opposition Progressive Alliance Party offers no alternative as some of its members defect to the People’s Organisation Party as soon as they are elected in order to access positions of power and opportunities to ‘chop’ – the colloquial phrase used for personal enrichment.
Odili eventually joins a group to launch a new party that runs for election against the People’s Organisation Party and contest