Critical Reflections on State Capture in South Africa

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.