‘Nothing has changed’ – Zondo says parliament would fail to stop state capture again

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo says parliament would fail to stop state capture again if there was another attempt.

Zondo addressed the Post Zondo Commission: The Future of Democracy Colloquium held at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria on Thursday.

The event, held under the theme ‘A vision for the future of Democracy Project’, comes a year after Zondo handed over the last state capture reports to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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Sharing his thoughts on the experience of leading the commission and how the work he started can be taken forward, Zondo said the capturing of our state placed our democracy at risk.

“State capture in the country entailed having great influence and control over government officials, which included the head of state, and use of payments to politicians and corrupt government officials to ensure that existing rules and regulations would be breached for the purpose of advancing their business interests. It is no doubt that the Guptas and those they worked with planned on it for some time,” said Zondo.

Parliament would fail to stop state capture

According to Zondo, parliament had still not implemented recommendations from the state capture commission reports, meaning it would fail to stop another attempt at capturing the state.

“If another group of people were to do exactly what the Guptas did to pursue state capture, Parliament would still not be able to stop it. That is simply because I have seen nothing that has changed. If Parliament won’t be able to protect the people’s interests, who will protect the people?”

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“If Parliament won’t be able to protect the interests of the people, if there are attempts at another state capture, who will protect the people?

“There should be a standing anti-state capture and anti-corruption commission that works the same way as the commission that I was honoured to chair which can call anybody, whether it’s the president or any member of parliament or any minister to come and answer questions where there are allegations of corruption and state capture,” said Zondo.

Who will protect the people?

He said this highlighted a need for a permanent state capture commission to ensure government officials are held accountable.

The establishment of a permanent state capture commission is one of the recommendations in Zondo’s reports.

According to the recommendation, such a commission could be called the Anti-State Capture and Corruption Commission.

“It will be necessary for the Anti-State Capture and Corruption Commission to keep an eye on how Parliament performs its oversight function and whether, in respect of any particular matters, it is performing or it has performed its oversight function effectively and has held the executive, including the president, accountable,” reads the report.

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According to Zondo, the ruling party would also need to play its role in preventing state capture, as it holds the majority vote.

“The reason why we failed to stop state capture is because the ruling party refused to agree to the establishment of an inquiry that would probe the allegations. There were a number of opportunities for the majority party to agree, but it did not. The Guptas continued with their projects, and the transactions that happened afterward happened because they were not stopped,” Zondo said.