Justice for state capturers is on the horizon

In a week which saw Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge do the unthinkable and run a marathon in under two hours, it is understandable when other great news sounds very ordinary.

Kipchoge’s superhuman effort makes everything else pale into insignificance, but it is necessary to keep track of these other developments.

South Africa’s efforts at self-rehabilitation received a major boost last week. Various events took place that should reassure people that all is not lost and the much-interrupted “new dawn” is finally bearing some fruit.

While one of the alleged cogs of state capture, Duduzane Zuma, fluently twanged his way through the Commission of inquiry into State Capture, his partners in crime, the Gupta brothers and their enforcer, Salim Essa, were turned into economic fugitives by having sanctions imposed on them by the United States.

Zuma Jnr was at pains to demonstrate to the whole country that there was nothing untoward with his playing a broker between the Gupta brothers and the people his father had in Cabinet. The US sent out a strong message about those same brothers: no one must do business with them, or they’ll be in violation of US sanctions.

Even though the wheels of justice seem to be turning ever so slowly, judging by the progress of the Zondo commission, it looks like President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of Hermione Cronje to focus on state capture crimes has finally kicked things into gear.

The retention of top legal minds in Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Geoff Budlender and Ngwako Maenetje to assist with the prosecution process of state capture crimes is great news.

The crimes of the past decade will not go unpunished and no matter how fluent those that appear at the commission, the real test for them will be when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) takes aim at them using its newly acquired legal eagles.

The depressing news that Eskom has posted losses amounting to R21 billion in the past year should serve to remind everyone why the NPA needs to ensure that the presidential “watch this space” threat to looters, in his State of the Nation Address, becomes reality.

The damage caused by those that captured state entities is real and in Eskom’s case, it added to its over R400 billion in debt.

Those crimes cannot go unpunished. It shouldn’t matter that the alleged masterminds of the state capture project continue with denial after denial at the commission, the NPA’s investigative powers should reveal the truth.

The only way to restore the faith of ordinary citizens in the structures that the state capture project practically decimated is by ensuring that the kind of action taken by the Hawks against former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede are done on a larger scale.

Yes, there might be hiccups in the beginning, but the brazen show of force that was reminiscent of the days of the Scorpions sends a message to all those who looted state funds, the slow but very long arm of the law is coming for them.

It is now time for Shamila Batohi and Cronje to give the commission some real teeth and go after those big names, no matter what position they occupy in society or government.

Sydney Majoko.

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