The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture is a coalition of over 23 civil society organisations. The mandate of the working group has been to both support and strengthen the work of the Zondo Commission (State Capture Commission of Inquiry) while maintaining oversight over the commission in the interests of the public. The working group has achieved this through various means using advocacy, engagement with the commission and by making over 15 evidence-based submissions to the commission. In addition to this, the Working Group successfully held the first People’s Hearing on State Capture which was created to openly engage with the public and hear evidence of how state capture has impacted on lives.The findings made by the panel presiding over the People’s hearing were shared with the commission in November 2019 and serves as a powerful reminder to all of what the human cost of state capture has and continues to be.
In February 2020, the working group submitted an Agenda for Action: Joint submission with recommendations geared at strengthening the findings of the commission and notably calls on Judge Zondo to release an interim report given its extension-this will assist to bolster accountability.
The working group continues to advocate for the implementation of its joint submission recommendations as well as maintain oversight over the commission, law enforcement agencies and the private sector “enablers of state capture”.
Open Secrets acts as the secretariat of the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture.
This Agenda for Action is based on detailed submissions made to the Zondo Commission by organisations of the Working Group covering the widespread impact of state capture on lives of people in South Africa. The Agenda for Action summarises recommendations that can hopefully serve as a roadmap during the next years of critical areas of reform within the South African state and private sectors. This submission was prepared at a time when these and other civil society organisations were deeply concerned about the impact of state capture on the lives of millions of people. The human cost of state capture and its contribution to deepening poverty and inequality provides the necessary urgency for the reforms set out in this submission.
by Civil Society Working Group on State Capture
by Dominic Brown and Erwan Malary
The submission draws from the Nugent Commission of Inquiry, evaluates the consequences and causes of the capture of tax institutions not merely as a matter of bad individuals but as matter of weak institutions.
by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Corruption Watch
This joint submission is concerned with the manipulation of criminal justice agencies by the Executive under the administration of former president Jacob Zuma. This manipulation was a critical factor in entrenching state capture.
The bankers, accountants, lawyers and consultants that cashed in on state capture.
This submission was presented to the Zondo Commission on the 4th of February 2020.
by Shadow World Investigations
This is the first of two submissions to the Zondo Commission by Shadow World Investigations
This joint submission focuses specifically on issues related to the misappropriation and
misuse of public funds which should have been geared towards the provision of basic
education.
OUTA’s State Capture Portfolio addresses the performance of Government, its respective departments and its state owned entities in the delivery of service to society.
OUTA's submissions are on Home Affairs, Eskom and Denel
by the Africa Criminal Justice Reform and the Dullah Omar Institute
by the Dullah Omar Institute
The DOI submission argues SOE Boards represent both a critical layer of accountability and oversight over the entities’ administration and the all-important link between the state and the SOEs.
This submission argues that major energy procurement projects need independent oversight at all stages – pre-procurement, procurement and post-procurement – to prevent further state capture.
This submission aims to illustrate that corruption has a direct impact on people’s constitutional rights to access health care services.
This submission aims to illustrate that corruption has a direct impact on people’s constitutional rights to access health care services.
The People’s Hearing on State Capture, held on the 12th of October 2019 at Constitution Hill, was a public forum where members of the public, community leaders and activists were invited to reflect on the impact of state capture, either in person or through videos. Alongside this, documentary shorts produced by civil society organisations formed part of the evidence heard on people’s experiences of state capture.
This civil society hearing was not intended to detract from the work of the Zondo Commission. Rather it served as a powerful reminder that state capture has left ordinary people poorer. The People’s Hearing supported efforts to hold the beneficiaries of this form of corruption – in both business and the state – to account through legal mechanisms such as the Zondo Commission on State Capture.
This hearing was organised by the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture.
Nonhle Mbuthuma is a human rights defender working for indigenous peoples’ rights, land rights, and environmental rights in the Xolobeni region of the Eastern Cape. She is also the founder and spokesperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee who advocate the communities’ ‘Right to Say No’ to mining corporates as per the landmark Xolobeni judgement.
Nomboniso Gasa is an Adjunct Professor at School of Public Law at University of Cape. She is Senior Research Associate at UCT. Her work focussed on Land, Politics, Gender and Cultural issues. Prof. Gasa has a long history in political and womens rights activism extending before the dawn of democracy in South Africa. She has published widely, in newspapers & academic journals.
Yasmin Sooka currently chairs the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. She’s a former member of the South African & the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. Sooka is a leading transitional justice expert and has served as a member of several panels including the UCT Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission(IRTC), the Secretary General’s Panel investigating sexual violence by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic, UN Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka and is the former Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa.
#DearJudgeZondo, is the social media campaign linked to the People’s Hearing. It is an open call for the public (on social media) to send Judge Zondo/ the State Capture Inquiry their demands, reflections, hopes for the State Capture Inquiry. The tweets/ posts/ videos and photos posted using the hashtag will be used at the People’s Hearing on the 12th of October.
On the 25th of October 2020, the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture wrote an open letter to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo highlighting a list of witnesses they believe should be prioritised during the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, saying that the commission should use its full power to compel them to appear before it. The group believes that the list of highlighted witnesses will be instrumental in strengthening the commission’s work.
SAfm’s Aldrin Sampear is joined by Michael Marchant to discuss the findings of Open Secrets and The Sentry’s latest investigative report titled: ‘Fronts, Fakes, and Façades’.
Watch Open Secrets’ Head of Investigations Michael Marchant for a webinar conversation with Professor Lukas Muntingh (Dullah Omar Institute), Mbekezeli Benjamin (Judges Matter) and Ra’eesa Pather (Open Secrets) who will help us grapple with how we can seek justice and restitution for state capture crimes.
Register for our upcoming webinar- Accountability for State Capture: Where to now?
The #ICMFiles is a series which sheds light on how ICM and its directors made payments to various companies and individuals to flush Transnet money.
This is the third piece in a series on a company called Integrated Capital Management (ICM) and its directors, who enabled and benefitted from state capture at Transnet, but have yet to be held to account.
In part 2 of #ICMFiles series we turn the spotlight on the ICM director who helped the Guptas score big inside Transnet: Stanley Shane
Lawyers and law firms were instrumental in the State Capture project. From prestigious Sandton white shoe firms to crooked small-time attorneys everyone feasted. One attorney who has not been held to account for State Capture crimes is the notorious Daniel Mantsha
Watch Open Secrets’ Zen Mathe in conversation with Moira Campbell (Corruption Watch), Devi Pillay (Public Affairs Research Institute-PARI) and Luthando Vilakazi (Open Secrets) who grapple with how we can address the social costs of state capture and seek restitution for the damage caused.
Open Secrets’ Zen Mathe will be in conversation with Moira Campbell and Devi Pillay. They’ll be exploring how South Africans can address the social costs of state captures and seek restitution for the damage caused.
The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture’s media statement on the president’s response to the State Capture Report.
Despite glaring evidence available in the public domain, the findings of the Zondo Commission and a fresh criminal investigation in Germany, South African authorities seem uninterested in holding T-Systems to account.
Sello Maema is the prosecutor inside the NPA who led three of the authority’s most questionable cases at that time. Allegations of Maema’s misconduct were documented in Open Secrets’ latest investigative report: Bad Cops, Bad Lawyers.
2 June 2022 | This is the repository of documents cited in the 34th profile of the Unaccountable series which focusses on Sello Maema
By Luvo Mnyobe Published in City Press This is how democracy dies. These were my thoughts as I scrolled through Twitter and saw a shameful video of Hlaudi Motsoeneng trying to humiliate senior SABC News journalist Francis Herd. Motsoeneng was appearing on Full View, a prime-time news programme, to give his view of the Judicial…
Are the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Hawks dragging their feet on cases of state capture? Social justice NGO Open Secrets thinks so and lays out its arguments in a persuasive new report published in August 2022. There are many who would agree.
Whistle-blowers continue to be targeted within Prasa, and there is little evidence of effective reform. The result is that working-class commuters continue to be let down by failing infrastructure and almost non-existent rail services.
The ANC’s devotion to its policy of cadre deployment is an indication that it values its own power more than the public interest.
Point of View with Phemelo Motene How did the State Capture network move billions of rand stolen from the South African people across the globe? The Zondo Commission report provides some of the details of the network of banks who profited from this — but fails to provide any remedy of how to prevent a…
In this series, Open Secrets profiles the prosecutors inside the National Prosecuting Authority who motivated questionable prosecutions and unduly delayed important cases. In this instalment, we focus on Andrew Chauke, the NPA’s head of public prosecutions in Johannesburg.
In this instalment, we focus on Andrew Chauke, the NPA’s head of public prosecutions in Johannesburg.
Investigators at Open Secrets have warned that the Zondo Inquiry’s alleged failure to point out the banking industry and other middlemen in state capture, may undo future work against corruption. Open Secrets and Shadow World Investigations jointly submitted an exhaustive report to the commission on the matter, in 2020. They now contend that the inquiry…
With all parts of the state capture report now published, civil society group Open Secrets is gearing up for the new challenge – getting SA’s law enforcement agencies to act.
The Democratic Alliance has laid criminal charges against the ANC for its role in the intricate large-scale corruption that involved specific individuals, government entities, and private companies in what has become known as the state capture. Findings of the State Capture report have implicated some of the ANC senior leaders including former ANC and State…
We’ve had just about a week to digest the latest instalment of the State Capture report. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s failure to address corruption at various levels of government, and within the governing party has been widely criticised. Several parastatals have also been eaten away by dubious deals and corrupt politicians, leaving South Africans with an…
This investigative report traces the networks of capture and corruption at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, SA Airways, Denel and the SA Revenue Service, and identifies the looters, fixers and politicians who should now be held to account
What do you get if you cross a crooked president, the Gupta brothers and a corrupted ruling party? Hopefully, 20 years to life …
How did the State Capture network move billions of rand stolen from the South African people across the globe? The Zondo Commission report provides some of the details of the network of banks who profited from this — but fails to provide any remedy of how to prevent a repetition of these crimes.
After missing 15 June deadline, the Chief Justice Raymond Zondo Commission has finally submitted part five and six of the report into State Capture. Earlier this week, Guest: Michael Marchant – Head of Investigations at Open Secrets Guest: Cynthia Stimpel – Whistleblower and Author of Hijackers on Board
🛩🛩🛩 Wanted: The State Capture Conspirators. Coming 30 June. Music: Abidoza and Major League DJz-Le Plane E’Landile Video production and editing: Luvo Mnyobe, Open Secrets
State capture relies on a vast network of actors, many of whom have evaded accountability for their role in derailing state-owned entities. This network includes lawyers who have disregarded their ethical and professional duties in service of corrupt networks. Refiloe Mokoena, an attorney who served as a board member at several state-owned entities (SOEs) and as an acting judge, is one such lawyer implicated in state capture
2 June 2022 | This is the repository of documents cited in the 32nd profile of the Unaccountable series which focusses on the misdeeds of attorney Refiloe Mokoena
Newsroom Afrika | 15 March 2022 Head of Investigations at Open Secrets, Michael Marchant, speaks to Newzroom Afrika on prosecutions for state capture crimes, and issues in the NPA, Hawks, and the courts. Justice Raymond Zondo releases the third volume of the State Capture report which recommends more than 60 individuals for prosecution. To discuss how…
SABC The Watchdog: Interview with Michael Marchant Michael Marchant, Head of Investigations at Open Secrets, speaks to the WatchDog following the public release of Part Two of the State Capture Report.
Monday 24 January 2022 || Civil Society Working Group on State Capture: Statement – Response to the Zondo Commission’s Report We urge the commission not to shy away from making robust recommendations that can act as catalyst for wholesale state reform and will help to ensure that powerful corporations and individuals that have enabled state…
Findings against The New Age in the State Capture report The Clement Manyathela Show on 702 | Interview with Ra’eesa Pather, Investigator at Open Secrets | 12 January 2022 Clement speaks to Open Secrets’ investigator, Ra’eesa Pather, as well as Pieter Pretorius from Eskom and former GCIS DG Themba Maseko, as resistors of state capture…
Open Secrets’ Michael Marchant reacts to the first part of the State Capture report, and the findings against PwC and Nkonki’s work at SAA.
Mediated Conversation: Reflection on the State Capture Report SAfm Sunrise | Guests include: Pauli van Wyk, Daily Maverick; Hennie van Vuuren, Open Secrets; and Mzwandile Mbeje, SABC News | 10 January 2022 Stephen Grootes of SAfm Sunrise speaks with Pauli van Wyk (Journalist at Daily Maverick); Hennie van Vuuren (Executive Director of Open Secrets), and…
Zondo: South African Airways, PwC can drag heels no longer The Africa Report | David Whitehouse| 10 January 2022 Publication of the first part of the Zondo Report on state capture has finally prompted South African Airways (SAA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to start facing reality. The first part of the report by…
Thought Leadership: State Capture Report under the spotlight Power 98.7 | In conversation with Mamello Mosiana, Head of Campaigns at Open Secrets | 9 January 2022 Stand-in host Nhlanhla Sehume is in conversation with the head of campaigns, Mamello Mosiana, at non-governmental organisation Open Secrets – which is vocal on accountability for private sector economic…
Pros and cons of Deferred Prosecution Agreements recommended in the State Capture Report Newzroom Afrika | In conversation with Tabitha Paine, Senior Attorney at Open Secrets | 8 January 2022 The state capture commission’s first report was released this week. It includes a recommendation to use deferred prosecution agreements for companies implicated in State Capture.…
Analysing the State Capture Report: Objections to proposed deferred prosecution agreements Radio 786 | In conversation with Michael Marchant, Head of Research at Open Secrets | 7 January 2022 Red flags have been raised about the State Capture Commission’s recommendation that government introduce laws to allow for deferred prosecutions of corporations accused of crimes like…
Discussion | State Capture report hits and misses eNCA | In conversation with Michael Marchant, Head of Investigations at Open Secrets | 7 January 2022 Michael Marchant from Open Secrets spoke to eNCA’s Annika Larsen.
Discussion on State Capture Commission Report and insights on the findings: Ra’eesa Pather, Investigator at Open Secrets SABC News | In conversation with Ra’eesa Pather, Investigator at Open Secrets | 7 January 2022 Civil society organization Open Secrets last night hosted a virtual conversation to discuss the State Capture Commission report and its insights on…
Michael Marchant, Head of Investigations at Open Secrets, on the hits and misses in the state capture report SABC: On Point | In conversation with Michael Marchant, Head of Research at Open Secrets | 7 January 2022 Many stakeholders continue to pore over the contents of the first part of the State Capture report, which…
The pros and cons of deferred prosecution agreements: Is it a case of justice deferred is justice denied? Daily Maverick| Tabitha Paine and Ra’eesa Pather | 6 January 2022 The first of three reports by the Zondo Commission has proposed using deferred prosecution agreements as a tool to hold companies accountable for wrongdoing in State Capture.…
Ramaphosa’s primary responsibility is to the country, not his political party: Open Secrets SAfm: Update at Noon | In conversation with Hennie van Vuuren, Executive Director at Open Secrets | 5 Januray 2022 The Democratic Alliance has called on law enforcement agencies to immediately act following the release of the first of the three-part State…
Business with Khaya Sithole: Reflections on the State Capture Report – Part 1 Power 98.7 | In conversation with Michael Marchant, Head of Research at Open Secrets | 5 January 2022 Reflections on the State Capture Report with Michael Marchant, Head of Research at Open Secrets.
Power Business with Khaya Sithole: Reflections on the State Capture Report – Part 1 5 January 2022 Power Business with Khaya Sithole Khaya Sithole reflects on Part 1 of the State Capture Report with Steven Powell from ENS, Pauli van Wyk from the Daily Maverick and Open Secrets’ Head of Investigations, Michael Marchant.
Ramaphosa’s primary responsibility is to the country, not his political party: Open Secrets 5 January 2022 Update at Noon The Democratic Alliance has called on law enforcement agencies to immediately act following the release of the first of the three-part State Capture report. The DA says now the information is available, recommendations from the report…
5 January 2022 Lester Kiewit talks to Open Secrets’ Ra’eesa Pather
Examining the NPA’s delay in prosecuting high-profile cases SABC Morning Live | In conversation with Hennie Van Vuuren, Executive Director of Open Secrets | 7 December 2021 National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Advocate Shamila Batohi says the NPA is not in a crisis and there is no widespread sabotage of the Investigative Directorate (ID) or…
Who are the board members and executives at Prasa who enabled and participated in the looting of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa)? This week we turn to Sfiso Buthelezi, a former deputy minister of Finance and current member of parliament whose six years as Prasa’s first board chairperson saw the parastatal procurement process systematically undermined and its coffers drained.
Unaccountable 00029 | Roy Moodley- Mr Prasa? By Lucas Nowicki Who are the shady corporate bosses who derailed Prasa? In this instalment of Unaccountable, we shine a light on Roy Moodley, a politically connected businessman whom employees at the state-owned railway company would call ‘Mr Prasa’, according to testimony at the Zondo Commission. For more…
The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture again reiterates that law enforcement agencies should focus its attention on the individuals and corporations who have either allegedly been complicit in state capture or might have information that can assist the state in challenging the state capture networks.
Daily Maverick | Zukiswa Pikoli | 21 July 2021 Swift and decisive action must be taken to remove and hold to account compromised individuals who remain within key state institutions, say civil society organisations. The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture has called for the accountability of criminals fingered in the State Capture Commission…
9 June 2021 | SAFM SUNRISE Guest: Makgala Masiteng – SABC Reporter Guest: Hennie Van Vuuren – Director Of Open Secrets
Cape Talk | Barbara Friedman | 29 April 2021 Hennie Van Vuuren, the CEO of Open Secrets speaks to Refilwe Moloto about the appearance of the ruling party president, Cyril Ramaphosa at the Zondo Commission.
Unaccountable 00023: How Prasa was looted and left for scrap By Lucas Nowicki The link between corruption and lived experience is nowhere more obvious than the erosion of passenger train services in South Africa. Prasa’s service has declined so dramatically over the past decade that the majority of working-class South Africans who once relied on…
Newzroom Afrika | 10 March 2021 Civil society groups in South Africa have published a joint statement in support of the State Capture Inquiry chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. The organisations, say they are against attacks on the judiciary by politicians who do not produce evidence to back their claims. Naushina Rahim has…
Radio Islam International | 10 March 2021 | Civil Society organisation Open Secrets says with just a few months left before the Zondo Commission concludes and reports on its findings, there needs to be support for the inquiry into state capture. Some of South Africa’s foremost civil society organisations have come out strongly in support…
Civil Society Working Group on State Capture | Maverick Citizen | Some of South Africa’s foremost civil society organisations have come out strongly in support of the State Capture Commission and have insisted that former president Jacob Zuma abide by the law. The 13 civil society organisations released a joint statement overnight stating that the…
Power FM | 19 January 2021 | In this conversation Thabiso Kotane is joined by Hennie van Vuuren, Director at Open Secrets and Lebohang Pheko, the Executive Director at the Trade Colleactive and talk about corporate capture, explore its effects of and look at this stifles the building and functioning of a capable state in…
Business Live| Natasha Marrian|14 January 2021 | Civil society bodies push for corporations implicated in state capture to be more thoroughly grilled by Zondo. Are private corporations being treated with kid gloves by the commission of inquiry into state capture? Sections of civil society say the impression is being created that the commission, chaired by…
Daily Maverick | Michael Marchant |15 December 2020 | The Zondo Commission has a vital role to play in advancing the public’s understanding of private corporations’ role in State Capture. It is the commission’s duty and well within its powers to compel banking executives, lawyers, consultants and auditors to appear before it and answer questions…
Newzroom Afrika | 16 December 2020 | More than 20 civil society organisations have written an open letter to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, highlighting a list of witnesses they believe should be prioritised during the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. They say the commission should use its full power to compel them to…
25 October 2020| Daily Maverick | Zukiswa Pikoli | More than 20 civil society organisations have written an open letter to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo highlighting a list of witnesses they believe should be prioritised during the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, saying that the commission should use its full power to compel…
8 October 2020 | Biz News | In this BizNews noon webinar (Thursday 8 October), veteran broadcaster Tim Modise is joined by Public Service Commissioner Michael Seloane and Mamello Mosiana of Open Secrets to discuss efforts to promote professional ethics in the face of collusive networks of corruption within the public sector.
1 October 2020 | Daily Maverick | Mamello Mosiana and Michael Marchant | Banks are an essential cog in a global money-laundering architecture that enables the corrupt and criminal to disguise and hide the proceeds of their crimes. New revelations from the US reveal the depths of the problem of banks laundering money and the…
Breakfast with Refilwe Moloto | 17 September 2020 | Let’s not forget that state capture is so much bigger and Zuma and that this corruption doesn’t exist in a vacuum – the private sector has been there every step of the way. Michael Marchant from Open Secrets in conversation with Refilwe.
CFO Talks Podcast | 17 August 2020 | A recent report released by Open Secrets provides fascinating insight to financial crimes in South Africa’s private and public sector. Open Secrets’ researcher Michael Marchant speaks to CFO Talks.
Open Secrets researcher Michael Marchant speaks to Cape Talk’s Lester Kiewit
SA FM | Viewpoint | 8 July 2020 | The Auditor General recently released a report and it tells of gross financial mismanagement in the public sector. Now the public sector is bound to attract attention because it runs on taxpayer’s money. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that the same unscrupulous way don’t exist in…
While the economic impact of Covid-19 will impact KPMG, PwC, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young (EY) like much of the private sector, they are cushioned by years of sustained and avaricious profit-taking.
Zukiswa Pikoli | Maverick Citizen | 19 June 2020 | “In South Africa, the struggle against State Capture and corruption remains part of the struggle for human rights and social justice – we will work hard to ensure that institutions like the Zondo Commission are effective,” insists the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture.…
Dear Judge Zondo, RE: State Capture Commission of Enquiry Hearings During Covid-19 We write to you as concerned members of the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture, which comprises more than twenty civil society organisations. In February 2020, we presented an Agenda for Action to the Commission, which is based on detailed submissions made…
Unaccountable 00009: McKinsey – Profit over Principle By Mamello Mosiana Big consulting firms take no credit and they accept no blame. This philosophy has enabled McKinsey & Company to profit with ease from work with authoritarian regimes, troubled businesses and corrupt state-owned enterprises. In South Africa, their work at Eskom and Transnet on some of…
Unaccountable 00008: FNB & Standard Bank – Estina’s Banks By Michael Marchant The infamous Estina Vrede Dairy Project was supposed to direct public funds to ‘empower’ indigent Free State farmers and develop local agriculture. Instead, almost all of the money was looted to benefit the Gupta enterprise. This week Open Secrets focuses on two of…
Naushina Rahim | News24 | 18 March 2020 The reality of the modern globalised and financialised world is that corruption on a grand scale, along with organised crime and state capture, is enabled by skilled professionals, including bankers, lawyers, accountants and consultants writes Naushina Rahim ‘An Agenda for Action’ was submitted almost a month ago…
Hennie van Vuuren | Financial Mail | 12 March 2020 Last week, lawyer Robert Appelbaum floated the idea of an amnesty for perpetrators of state capture. It’s a short-sighted idea, designed to appease the powerful and corrupt, says Open Secrets’ Hennie van Vuuren In the home of Joburg-based corporate lawyer Robert Appelbaum hangs a portrait…
Unaccountable 00007: HSBC – The World’s Oldest Cartel By Mamello Mosiana If Transnet was a golden goose for the Gupta family and their associates, then global banking giant HSBC played the role of tending their illicit nest eggs. This week Open Secrets examines the role of a key global enabler in the State Capture network.…
This investigative report shows that the systems that enable grand corruption and state capture are global in nature, and that private sector elites are central to the problem.
State Capture and corruption go hand-in-hand with inequality and poverty
Cape Talk | 20 February 2020 | Listening to the testimony of bankers before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into allegations of state capture, you might believe they were unwitting victims of the Guptas and acted quickly and virtuously to throttle their corrupt ways by closing their bank accounts in 2016. It turns out they…
Civil society working group submits recommendations to Zondo Commission
Unaccountable 00006: Nedbank and the Bank of Baroda — Banking on State Capture By Michael Marchant Who laundered money for the Gupta acolytes and used the opportunity to cash in on State Capture? A new investigative report, ‘The Enablers’, co-authored by Open Secrets and Shadow World Investigations, details the role of bankers, accountants, consultants and…
More than 20 civil society groups have submitted their recommendations to the Zondo commission on how to reform the state and private sector in the wake of state capture.
Corruption has undoubtedly contributed to poverty and unemployment and these consequences should not be ignored by the Zondo Commission.
Christi Nortier | Daily Maverick | 19 February 2020| Civil society organisations have been making submissions to the Zondo Commission for the past year. The Civil Society Working Group publicly launched a joint statement that was presented to the commission this week. It summarises their recommended strategies to ensure that State Capture does not continue.…
Newzroom Afrika | 12 February 2020 | Newzroom Afrika speaks to Open Secrets’ researcher Mamello Mosiana on Open Secrets and Shadow World Investigations new report, The Enablers: the bankers laws and accountants that cashed in on state capture.
Jacob Rooi | Rapport/City Press | 10 February 2020 | It’s not only Jacob Zuma who needs to account for his alleged role in state capture, but also the bankers and auditors who made the shenanigans possible. This is according to Andrew Feinstein and Hennie van Vuuren, whose organisations Open Secrets and Shadow World Investigation…
Co-authored by Open Secrets and Shadow World Investigations, The Enablers investigative report, explores the largely overlooked yet extensive evidence of the role of the private sector “enablers” in state capture. The Enablers focuses on the role of banks, accounting firms, consultants and lawyers in facilitating criminal conduct that formed part of the state capture enterprise.…
Black Sash’s Khuluma on the 21st November 2019 was a conversation with Valencia Talene (Corruption Watch), Tracy Ledger (Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) and Naushina Rahim (Open Secrets), where they discussed State Capture: Implications for governance and leadership of the SCA ruling ordering Cash Paymaster Services to pay back 316 million to SASSA.
Azarrah Karim | 12 October 2019 | While the state capture commission of inquiry delves deeper and deeper into the web of capture, sourcing the culprits between factional battles, those who were most affected by the crimes believe they are being sidelined. The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture held a people’s hearing at the…
Zukiswa Pikoli | 13 October 2019 | The People’s Hearing into State Capture took place at Constitution Hill’s Women’s Jail at the weekend. The hearing was civil society’s version of the State Capture commission of inquiry chaired by Justice Raymond Zondo. Civil society organisations and ordinary people gathered to share the direct impact State Capture…
11 October 2019 | SABC News | Former President Jacob Zuma and French Arms Company, Thales, have lost their bid to avoid prosecution on corruption charges. They’ll have to appear in court on Tuesday for the start of their trial, which has been delayed for 15 years. Zuma’s legal team argued that the National Prosecuting…
Mark Heywood | Daily Maverick | 7 October 2019 We are more than a year into the Zondo Commission, but sometimes one can be forgiven for thinking, where are the people’s voices and who were the real victims? On 12 October a People’s Hearing in Johannesburg aims to answer those questions. In late 2018 a…
Fatima Moosa | Daily Vox | 8 October 2019 For months now, the state capture commission has been taking place headed by deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo. The commission have been looking into the allegations of state capture and corruption within the public sector. Many startling allegations have come forward from the commission. The hearings began on…
The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture – a coalition of over twenty civil society organisations – is organising a People’s Hearing on State Capture scheduled to take place in Johannesburg on 12 October 2019. The Civil Society Working Group recognises that the Zondo Commission on State Capture in South Africa is making an…
Perspectives- Robbin’ the Hood | 25 August 2019 | Mamello Mosiana and Michael Marchant | Any analysis of state capture is incomplete if it fails to grapple with the network of private actors that facilitates unethical, corrupt and other criminal economic activity. A narrow focus on the structural and institutional weaknesses in the ruling African…
Alex Mitchley Civil society organisations have called on Deputy Judge President Raymond Zondo, who is chairing the commission of inquiry into state capture, to not treat certain witnesses with kid gloves, and to robustly apply the principle of equality before the law. According to a joint statement by organisations such as the Right2Know Campaign (R2K),…
Member organisations of the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture call on the Zondo Commission to more robustly uphold the principle of equality before the law.
Cape Talk’s Refilwe Moloto speaks to Open Secrets’ Researcher Michael Marchant.
Media Statement| CSWG | 21 March 2019 The struggle against State Capture and corruption in South Africa is a struggle for human rights. This is why the current revelations at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture (the Zondo Commission) are important – they lay bare the various networks of looters in the public and…
8 February 2019 State of the Nation Address 2019: Time to Get Serious About Economic Crime An important focus of President Ramaphosa’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) was on the Commissions of Inquiry that have the potential to finally tackle high level corruption in the private and public sector. This includes…
The report begins by outlining the role played by international banks in supporting the apartheid state, both through the facilitation of illegal weapons trades and the continued provision of loans and capital despite international recognition of apartheid as a crime against humanity. It also considers the impact on democratic South Africa in repaying these odious debts.
