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Reflecting on the state of corruption in South Africa

10 December 2021 | Story Sanet Madonsela | Photo Supplied

SanetMadonsela_web read more — Sanet Madonsela is an analyst and researcher for the Focus Group. She is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State.

On 23 August 2021, bullets hailed down on the motionless body of Babita Deokaran, the whistle-blower who courageously agreed to testify in an alleged fraud investigation related to a R300 million tender for personal protective equipment (PPE) in the Gauteng health sector. This tragedy brought to life the dangers faced by whistle-blowers in South Africa. Given the fact that corruption has played a key role in the contraction of the South African economy by 1,5% and led to an investor strike, we need more whistle-blowers to come forward, as Babita Deokaran, Angelo Agrizzi, Nomvula Mokonyane, and Athol Williams did.

According to Transparency International, corruption is rampant in South Africa, as the country only scored 44/100 on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2020, warranting further analysis of the phenomenon. To be frank, South Africa has been rapidly deteriorating on this index with each passing year. Despite the establishment of commissions, new procurement rules, and political commitments by the President, corruption continues apace.

At a book launch co-hosted by Defend our Democracy and the Centre for Sustainable Transitions, a panel of experts discussed the importance of understanding corruption, the role of whistle-blowers in exposing corruption, and the phenomenon of state capture. During this event, Anatomy of State Capture was also launched. This 427-page book sought to conceptualise and synthesise the origins, development, and manifestation of state capture in the country. The book explained the foundations for understanding state capture, provided an explanation on how the looting of state coffers was accomplished, discussed the maintenance of legitimacy and its human costs, and provided an explanation of how weakened accountability can endanger a nation. Moreover, it dealt with how state capture mirrored the global patterns of corruption. This book is indeed a meaningful contribution by academics, policy makers, and journalists and the authors have made a meaningful contribution to this pressing issue, which is robbing the state of legitimacy, demoralising the general public, and forcing investors to flee our shores, which results in greater impoverishment.

Works such as Anatomy of State Capture have been painstaking compiled, claims substantiated, and evidence sought to ensure that it reflects the most accurate reflection. It follows in the steps of other great scholarship on the subject. Think here of Pieter Louis Myburgh’s erudite Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s Web of Capture, Jacques Pauw’s explosive The President’s Keepers: Those Keeping Zuma in Power and Out of Prison, Robin Renwick’s insightful How to Steal a Country: State Capture and Hopes for the Future in South Africa, or the illuminating The Bosasa Billions by James Brent-Styan.

Despite the overwhelming evidence presented in these tomes, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been slow to act. Perpetrators walk free, safely ensconced in the knowledge that the NPA has been gutted by venal political elites who put party interests before country. The act of prosecution in South Africa seems to be motivated by political considerations and not criminality itself or legality. The recent resignation of Hermione Cronje, Head of the Investigative Directorate at the NPA, underscores the sad truism that those within the system seeking to make a difference, are increasingly frustrated by the lack of action and choose to leave … to the detriment of the country.

What international experience has reinforced, is that state capture is intimately linked to the issue of longevity of political power. It is only when a political party – which has been entrenched in corruption for so long – actually faces electoral defeat, that real hope emerges. In political defeat, the incumbent rot is jettisoned as cadre deployment ends and tenderpreneurship is given a bloody nose. The recent local government elections suggested that the country’s long-suffering citizens are prepared to turn their backs on a self-serving, incompetent, and ruling political class. It is hoped that this will be realised in the next general elections. We owe selfless heroes like Babita Deokaran nothing less.

News Archive

Ford foundation funds higher education redesign

2005-06-23

The Ford Foundation has pledged a grant of almost R280 000 for redesigning higher education delivery at three campuses in the Free State.

According to Prof Magda Fourie, Vice-Rector: Academic Planning at the University of the Free State (UFS), the three campuses that will be affected by the strategic reconfiguration of higher education delivery are the Qwaqwa campus at Phuthaditjhaba and the Vista campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein and the Welkom campus of the Central University of Technology (CUT).

Prof Fourie says the three campuses were all affected by the restructuring of higher education, in line with the National Plan for Higher Education.

The Qwaqwa campus of the UFS that was part of the former University of the North was incorporated into the UFS in January 2003. Likewise the Bloemfontein campus of the former Vista University was incorporated into the UFS in January 2004.

The Welkom campus of the CUT was also part of the former Vista University and was incorporated into the CUT in January 2004.

“These incorporations pose a challenge in that we have to think creatively about the best ways of using these three campuses to service the higher education, training, skills development and human resource needs of the Free State,” Prof Fourie said.

“The grant from the Ford Foundation will primarily be used to draw up strategic funding proposals for the three campuses. The Qwaqwa campus of the UFS is a priority to us given the poverty and unemployment in a largely rural area of the Free State,” said Prof Fourie.

“A detailed consultation process will be undertaken in the Qwaqwa campus sub-region which will hopefully result in a comprehensive and a coherent suite of higher education activities being established on this campus,” said Prof Fourie.

“It is envisaged that the Qwaqwa campus will become a centre of excellence in the area of rural development. This vision is based on a focused integration of the core functions of a university – teaching, research, and community service – around the issue of rural development,” said Prof Fourie.

Prof Fourie said that various educational offerings including among others short courses, bridging and foundation programmes, and degrees could be offered, with a particular focus on providing courses of relevance to students from the local rural community and students from elsewhere with an interest in focusing on rural development studies.

She said the redesign of the three affected campuses is being managed as a project of the Free State Higher Education Consortium (FSHEC) consisting of all the higher education institutions operating in the Free State.

“The aim of the project is to establish how the Qwaqwa and Vista campuses of the UFS and the Welkom campus of the CUT can be used effectively to meet regional education and training needs, to serve the strategic priorities of the two higher education institutions and contribute to the sustainable development and poverty alleviation of the region,” she said.

The planning for the Vista campus of the UFS is still in an early stage. “We are looking at the possibility of developing this campus into a hub of education and training opportunities for Bloemfontein and Free State region. Further plans will be communicated later in the year,” said Prof Fourie.

Media release

Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel: (051) 401-2584
   Cell: 083 645 2454
   E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

23 June 2005

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