Who will come forward?

There has been much speculation that a great many senior people could throw light on state capture, but are too scared to give evidence.

It is common cause that the Zuptas accumulated many billions of rand in many corrupt deals. This would have been impossible without the involvement of many government and stateowned entity officials, all of whom could throw light (from torches to searchlights) on the issue if they wanted to.

So far, those who have been witnesses to state capture largely or fully resisted the Zupta overtures. The great majority are afraid because, at least partly, they went along with illegal activities. Even if they are not prosecuted, they will have to show themselves in a bad light, which is likely to be career-limiting.

It seems unlikely, therefore, that there will be volunteers from this group of government officials: they are going to have to be forced to appear, and the evidence leaders are going to have to probe for the details of their involvement.

Roger Briggs Edenvale