The special tribunal set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa to speed up Special Investigating Unit (SIU) cases is a huge step forward in the fight against corruption, malfeasance and state capture. While many South Africans are sceptical about the outcome of the various commissions, the president has acted decisively in getting to the bottom of what has gone wrong.
These commissions cut across all areas of public policy that are amenable to capture, including awarding and managing public contracts and selling public assets below market price (Zondo commission); granting tax breaks and tax subsidies (Nugent commission); awarding public loans (Mpati commission); and awarding monopolistic positions in competitive markets (competition commission).
The special tribunal will enable the SIU to recover monies and assets lost by state institutions through irregular and corrupt means and will ensure those responsible are held accountable. These inquiries are showing that state capture has occurred at all levels of the policy cycle, involving elected and public officials with large discretionary powers.
The release of the rehabilitation fund by the mineral resources department and then minister Mosebenzi Zwane’s alleged visit to Glencore with the Guptas, highlights the need for public officials to be screened by political parties and reveals how parties are themselves vulnerable to capture. They end up acting on behalf of individuals rather than fulfilling their constitutional mandate, as the oath of office requires.
Though evidence in these inquiries has revealed there was a sense of reciprocity relating to payments benefiting elected and public officials, very little has emerged so far about the link with political party financing, except in the well-publicised case between the ANC-linked Chancellor House, Hitachi and Eskom.
Also emerging are the personal ties and networks that put the Gupta businesses at the centre of state capture, particularly in relation to Eskom and Transnet. False news has also emerged in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of South Africans. People have not yet fully undertsood the depth of the corruption and that it was part of a political project.
The Guptas appear to have had close links with those in the ANC leadership who dismissed the Gupta e-mail leaks before the public protector’s state of capture report. The Gupta television channel ANN7 showed its hand by claiming the leaks were part of a plot by white monopoly capital to undermine black business. When did the Guptas become classified as black in terms of the SA constitution?
I had to go back to their home affairs application and their relationship with Malusi Gigaba, the then minister of that department, to get an understanding of how capture functions.
The Mpati commission has been focusing on Ayo Technologies, and we are learning that in the transformation of the SA economy and black participation to get funding, networks and relationships matter. The commission has revealed a series of governance breaches in the Public Investment Corporation and we do not yet know whether there was a political hand in it, and its extent. However, we know propagating false news and manipulating public opinion have become part of SA society.
It is for this reason that Ramaphosa should be encouraged and supported in the steps he has taken to deal with this scourge, and the greed that has become embedded in SA. As the new special tribunal is being set up, there are things the government should start doing even before the various commissions make final recommendations:
- Focus on the pre- and post-tendering phases of public procurement, for example tender design, since even when the rules are clear, capture can take place in the implementation phase.
- Establish a meritocracy in the public service and insulate the public procurement function to limit corruption and capture.
- Electoral contestation is essential: if re-elected with large majorities, entrenched parties such as the ANC can abuse their position for corrupt purposes.
Ramaphosa needs all the support he can get to implement his plan for a better SA. He has my support.
• Mondi is a senior lecturer in the Wits School of Economic and Business Sciences.
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