The People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime has the potential to reshape the trajectory of how we conceptualise economic crime and the role of the private sector.
South Africans have been staggering through multiple exposés on private and public sector corruption over the past few months alone, be it allegations of looting of public funds by and through financial institutions detailed in the VBS Mutual Bank: The Great Bank Heist report or confessions of undisclosed meetings between former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and the Guptas.
All this points to the importance of harnessing efforts for accountability in the face of impunity.
In the face of a failing criminal justice sector, we struggle to make sense of who is guilty or innocent and in so doing we come to believe people and organisations who themselves have captured the state and identify with their cause.
It’s time that we dump this case of Stockholm syndrome by ensuring the effectiveness of our public institutions.
