'State capture' a harsh reality that must be confronted

20 October 2016 - 09:56 By The Times Editorial

New Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane entered the lion's den on her third day in the job, presenting her office's annual report yesterday to parliament and answering MPs' questions. It must have been nerve-wracking. She has a hard act to follow, the departing Thuli Madonsela being such a public hero.But Mkhwebane seemed composed and was certainly articulate. She said that her style would be different to that of Madonsela.So far so good.She said she would wean her agency off donor funding, which is theoretically unobjectionable but could make her office vulnerable to political influence. What would happen if you-know-who got hold of the purse strings?But yesterday there was only one thing everyone wanted to hear about: her approach to the state capture investigation and the report on it prepared by Madonsela.An ANC MP said he did not approve of the term "state capture" and, most disconcertingly, Mkhwebane said she didn't like using it either.Oh dear.State capture isn't a made-up thing, something that public servants can simply adopt or discard. It's a legitimate term in political science that's been in common usage for decades.The annual International Anti-Corruption Conference has discussed state capture in depth, defining it as "the actions of individuals, groups or firms, in both the public and private sectors, to influence the formation of laws, regulations, decrees and other government policies to their own advantage [through] the illicit and non-transparent provision of private benefits to public officials".That sums up the perilous situation we face.If Mkhwebane calls the concept of state capture into question, the entire foundation of the case against Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family is shaken.Let's hope nerves on the newbie's big day were to blame and it was just a slip of the lip...

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