State capture: how ‘liberation culture’ damages SA’s future
The party of Mandela and Luthuli is being used to dominate all society for the benefit of an ANC elite, making party loyalty key to advancement, writes Mamphela Ramphele
WE would be very unwise to reduce state capture in our democracy to the excesses of Zuptagate. The cancer is much deeper, having embedded itself in our body politic over the past two decades. Its roots lie in the sense of entitlement by the ANC as the governing party to reward itself and individual leaders for their sacrifices during the struggle for freedom.
The major role the ANC played in the struggle, and its laudable contribution to the negotiation of the political settlement we enjoy today, cannot be gainsaid. The country is grateful for all the sacrifices made by all, including, but not exclusively, members of the ANC, to make our freedom real. Ours was a struggle that many citizens inside and outside the country contributed to. Our gratitude to those who fought for freedom cannot justify the capture of the state by the ANC and the government.
The conflation of the state, the ANC as the governing party, and the person of the president, has become a key feature of our political culture over the past two decades. The provision of public services paid for by taxpayers has been reduced to gifts by the ANC for which citizens are enjoined to be grateful. This confusion in the minds of citizens, including some political analysts, arises in part from the newness of our democracy and our lack of experience with democracy, given our history.
The confusion serves a calculated political strategy positioning the ANC as the only guardian of our democracy and the socioeconomic rights enshrined in our constitution. It is essential for all of us as citizens to understand, strengthen and defend our democracy. We dare not let those seeking to perpetuate the imprisonment of the minds of poor people to triumph. Our continent is littered with tragic examples of state capture that has created untold misery, poverty and conflict.
International studies show that state capture is not just a matter of widespread corruption in a given country. State capture is a network structure in which corrupt actors cluster around certain state organs and functions. Captured institutions are often linked to each other and are controlled by an elite at a national level. By analysing the distribution of corrupt transactions and clustering of high-risk corruption actors, we can establish the degree of state capture. Recent events, including the hiring and firing of ministers of finance, the Nkandla saga, the declining fortunes of state-owned enterprises, attest to the extent of state capture.
Post-liberation African states such as ours face a major challenge in creating strong democracies in which the state emerges as a commonwealth belonging to all citizens, distinct from political actors who are elected to public office to serve citizens. The common feature of post-liberation politics and democracies is the dominant role played by liberation movement leaders who use state resources to reward themselves. There is often a clash between the value systems of post-liberation parties that have been forged by the heat and thrust of the struggle for freedom, and the constitutional requirements of democratic governance.
The rhetoric of the ANC’s commitment to a national democratic revolution, which urges “democratic forces” to control the levers of power, including the public service, the security forces, the judiciary and the public broadcaster, belongs to a value system preceding the adoption of our constitution. Constitutional democracies are founded on the equality of all citizens, regardless of political affiliation. Socioeconomic rights are the entitlement of all citizens, regardless of political affiliation. Those in public service have to act as impartial servants of the people.
Command and control are central to liberation politics. Divisions between “them and us” are key to survival in the struggle. Secrecy and militarism, with centralised decision-making, were essential to safeguard the movement against infiltrators. The ANC has yet to shed the liberation culture it developed over a century of struggle.
The recent Constitutional Court ruling on President Jacob Zuma’s failure to live up to his oath of office to uphold, defend and respect the constitution has clarified matters. Parliament, cabinet ministers and other public servants have also been reprimanded for their failure to uphold the constitution and respect the office of the public protector.
The non-apology of the president in the aftermath of this Constitutional Court ruling and the ANC’s affirmation of its continuing confidence in him are the clearest evidence of how the party of Mandela, Sisulu and Luthuli has lost its way and become captive to elite interests. There is unwillingness to free the ANC from being used as a vehicle to capture the state for the benefit of some of its key leaders.
Loyalty to the ANC at all cost has contributed to state capture at multiple levels. Well-meaning public servants are forced to make tough choices between job security and breaking the law in service of the elites who control local, provincial and national power bases. Even teachers’ jobs have become commodities bought from controlling elites in teacher unions. The direct and opportunity costs of these networks of state capture are yet to be fully calculated, but are immense.
Parliament has also been captured by the ANC. The speaker and her deputies have failed in their constitutional duties to hold the executive, including the president, accountable. Many parliamentarians have sadly become much more concerned with defending Zuma and his cabinet than with representing the interests of citizens who voted for them. Our closed party list electoral system exacerbates matters. The price of securing a parliamentary seat is party loyalty. Even good members of the ANC have found themselves supporting unlawful actions such as the motion exonerating the president from any liability for the Nkandla upgrades.
The most demeaning form of state capture by the ANC is the use of social grants, food parcels, blankets and access to public works programme jobs as recruitment and voter capture nets. During the 2014 national election campaign, I personally witnessed women cleaning streets with ANC membership cards in their pockets or around their necks. They told me that if they were to fail to produce their cards on demand by local leaders, they would be dismissed from their jobs. What a betrayal of the promises of freedom! The ANC has the opportunity to acknowledge that it has created an environment that has made state capture a key feature of its political culture.
Citizens must also take responsibility for upholding, defending and respecting the constitution by choosing public representatives who are committed to the supreme law of our land. Eradicating the cancer of state capture is in our power as citizens. State capture has to be rooted out at its source.
Ramphele is an active citizen
The conflation of the state, ANC as the governing party, and the president, is a key feature of our political culture They told me that if they were to fail to produce their ANC cards on demand, they would be dismissed