Strong, independent state institutions are our only hope

Exactly two years and nine days since the start of the commission of inquiry into state capture, South Africans are, understandably, fatigued. Repeated calls for the arrest and prosecution of the unsavoury procession of characters who have given evidence of the scale of rot at the top of the country’s public and private sector leadership are wholly justified.

I, too, am galled by the seemingly endless parade of looters being exposed by the Zondo commission, even as I am relieved to be finally hearing, in detail, about their many misdeeds. And I understand completely the public frustration and desperation to see those implicated wearing orange overalls sooner rather than later.

But we should remember that this public airing of the extent of corruption in SA is far better than the opposite: that it continues to be shrouded in obscurity and darkness.

Sunlight, as the saying goes, is the best disinfectant.

Sunlight is also the natural precursor to accountability, which requires strong, independent, well-staffed institutions whose leaders have the integrity and the capacity to bring those implicated in corruption and state capture to book.

It is, however, far easier to destroy these critical state institutions than it is to rebuild them. This much we know from our experience with the

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which former president Jacob Zuma gutted so precipitously during his term in office that the Constitutional Court ruled two of his national director of public prosecutions appointments — Menzi Simelane and Shaun Abrahams — invalid, and the removal of the third — Mxolisi Nxasana — improper because Zuma “bought” him out of office for R17m.

As though the destruction wrought during his own term in office was not enough, Zuma has also spent most of the past year trashing former president Thabo Mbeki’s appointments to the NPA, in an unseemly and continued bid to avoid his day in court on charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

In truth, the NPA has been subjected to over 15 years of abuse and dismantling at the pleasure of a single man — all so that he can avoid accountability for his alleged crimes.

Is it any wonder that the continued revival of this institution since the appointment of the excellent Shamila Batohi in 2018 would cause him such panic as to precipitate a last-ditch political putsch to save his own skin?

Zuma’s tortured and overlong missive to President Cyril Ramaphosa, decrying the latter’s identification of the ANC as corruption Accused No 1, is as sure a signal as any that SA’s criminal justice institutions — from the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit to the NPA itself — are finally closing in on the party’s kleptocrats.

The resurgence of these institutions, and in particular their renewed independence and freedom from political interference, is the single biggest threat to the legions of embezzlers who have grown complacent after years of enjoying unfettered access to the public purse.

As the ANC wrestles with its own demons this weekend, we should, however, make no mistake: SA’s future is not dependent on whether this faction or that faction of the party survives the skirmish.

Instead, our best guarantee of rejoining the path to prosperity lies in the resilience, independence and capacity of the state, and the government institutions that support it.

We have a habit in SA of conflating the ANC with the government — our political discourse often struggles to separate out the state (and its institutions) from the political party.

It is based on this that one often hears analysts lamenting that SA’s fortunes are hopelessly “tied up” with those of the ANC. But they are not. Or at least, our fortunes are no more conjoined than they are with those of the DA, or the EFF, or any other political party for that matter.

It is probably true that this weekend’s national executive committee meeting is one of the inflection points in Ramaphosa’s presidency at which he must make a personal choice: between salvaging the unity of the ANC, or salvaging the integrity of the South African state. He is, after all, head of both.

But that paradox is his alone to bear, not ours. We owe no endless fealty to the governing party. Rather, it is in our best interests as South African citizens to support and ensure the longevity of the state and its many independent instruments — long after the fortunes of the ANC or any other political party have subsided.

And while Ramaphosa has led this institutional rebuilding effort admirably, and in the teeth of what must be unimaginable resistance from the kleptocratic forces in his own party, the fightback campaign launched by Zuma and his acolytes this week should be a signal to us to redouble our efforts to support the rebuilding of the state. Independent institutions — especially those in the criminal justice system — need resources, talent and a critical mass of political will in order to do their work effectively.

The time has come for us to join the battle and give them the support they deserve.