Former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo says there is a real possibility that State Capture can recur in South Africa. Speaking to the SABC‘s Political Editor Mzwandile Mbeje in an exclusive interview on Friday, Zondo said that no mechanism has been put in place to prevent the capture of the state – only to prosecute its aftermath.
The State Capture Inquiry Chairperson says that if opposition parties had not been overridden in their attempts to have the phenomenon investigated early on, millions of rands could have been saved.
He says while the ANC currently does not have the majority it once had to quash any investigations into similar misconduct, there is still cause for concern.
The former Chief Justice has raised his concern on the executive’s slow call to action in implementing mechanisms to deter the reoccurrence of state capture, saying the president is yet to announce progress on the matter.
“He indicated that there was a task team that would look at various possible structures. I’m not aware that it has finalized its job. I think that is the council, anti-corruption council that he established. So, we wait to see what structures he decides upon that will fight corruption. So, the pace is not what it should be,” says Zondo.
Zondo stresses that the nature of state capture was targeting the integrity of state institutions and is weary that similar instances may present themselves.
“I see a lot of people against whom findings were made in the commission who are in parliament, and I wonder whether it’s coincidental or whether there is any attempt by anybody to weaken parliament. And we know that the way that the state capture of the Guptas and Mr Zuma was working, it worked on the basis of weakening institutions so that they would not do the job they are supposed to do,” adds Zondo.
The former Chief Justice did, however, allude to the possible benefit of the GNU as no single party has the outright majority in parliament.
“When opposition parties said, ‘look, the evidence about state capture has been mounting and there are lots of allegations against the president’, we should pass a vote of no confidence in him. The majority turned that down, the ANC. In that way, state capture was allowed to continue. If the public hearings – investigations that the opposition parties had called for – had been allowed to happen, the state capture may have been stopped before a lot of taxpayers’ money was stolen,” says Zondo.
Zondo, who served over 27 years as a judge, says looking back, he has no regrets as he knows he also acted within the constitution and rule of law.
Source: SABC News
