Corruption is laid bare
UNDISPUTABLE: BUSINESS USES POLITICS
Agrizzi’s testimony paints a loathsome picture of exponential greed and weakness when politics and business combine for self-enrichment.
Two serious issues stand out from the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. First, our tendency to be hard on politicians’ misdeeds and lukewarm about company executives’ corrupt, perversely-motivated conduct. This is not to say that politicians are blameless victims.
Democratic economics tells us an emerging country is equally affected by the misdeeds of private financial flows as it is by kleptomaniac politicians.
There’s nothing original about former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi’s testimony. However, it has laid bare the extent to which the private sector has a grimy, cunning hand in politics.
Second – and my real issue – is the implications for the ANC. It seems to be an ironist.
Many top ANC leaders have publicly labelled white monopoly capital (WMC) as the people’s enemy and an obstacle to transformation.
The party theme on radical economic transformation and black ownership sees black industrialists hailed as a heroic alternative to white businesses dominated by “pale males”.
The irony is that the party and its leaders have always been bound to the very WMC they vehemently claim to spurn.
Therefore, declarations that ANC representatives are accused – not the party itself – reveals a distinct lack of discernment, or perhaps spin-doctoring.
The commission of inquiry is as much about SA’s future as it is about an ailing party that has trapped itself in a norm of corruption. Because these very corrupt practices that take root in functions of the state and public service eventually spill over into daily societal practices.
The details Agrizzi shared about Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson’s alleged “control and access” to then-president Jacob Zuma and the resulting influence on leading state institutions, indicates how profoundly entangled business and politics are.
His testimony exemplifies the string-pulling effects a private company can have on political leaders. From this, subsequent corrupt practices are enabled.
Further, Agrizzi’s testimony reveals how informal practices involving money exchanges create a rapacious political elite, who are ultimately responsible for the state’s decline.
Those in business or government who intentionally seek to derail the better future many died for and many others are trying to build, must face the full wrath of society and the justice system.
The inquiry has exposed the degree to which private sector money orchestrates the corruption of politics to benefit itself.
We must guard against these sordid affairs with all our might. They’re hamstringing the economy and making it difficult for hard-working citizens to pull themselves towards a better future.
This is about calling out private sector’s reprehensible role in aiding and abetting the regression government. We must denounce it with the same passion that we do leaders who use political power to self-enrich.