President Jacob Zuma.
President Nelson Mandela’s promise during his inauguration address in 1994 is what all South Africans aspire to, but it has been “betrayed by the Zuma-centred power elite”, according to the explosive academic report into the “shadow state” of South Africa, that was released yesterday.
Mandela promised … “[to] build [a] society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world”.
This is “nevertheless a promise that can still be achieved” – only if a new economic consensus emerges, which truly realises inclusive radical economic transformation.
“It is time, therefore, that political conditions are created that enable and catalyse the realisation of our founding promise.
“What is clear is that state capture by shadowy elites has profound implications for state institutions. It destroys public trust in the state and its organs; it weakens key economic agencies that are tasked with delivering development outcomes; and it erodes confidence in the economy,” according to the report.
“When there is no trust in public institutions, there is little goodwill to express solidarity through tax; large companies are predisposed to sit on cash rather than reinvest profits towards productive use; criminality proliferates, exploiting weaknesses in intelligence and crime enforcement authorities; and both capital and skills flee the country.
“Worryingly, large-scale corruption enables much wider corrupt activities to go undetected at the lower tiers of government.
“Under such conditions, it is impossible to achieve transformative objectives,” the report stated.
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