Pressure led to capture probe

GAUTENG Premier David Makhura has admitted that pressure from civil society organisations prompted the ANC to deal with state capture.

Makhura was among prominent speakers at the inaugural Inclusive Growth conference organised by the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation in the Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal.

Among key issues discussed were state capture, the land issue, the state of governance and the economy.

Yesterday Makhura praised civil society organisations that mobilised against state capture and pressured the ANC to take steps against allegations of looting of state coffers.

“If there is something that has taught us something from the period we have evolved from, I can tell you as a leader of the ANC that if it wasn’t for civil society mobilisation and activism, we would have not emerged from the nightmare we are just emerging from.

“Sometimes we give too much credence and we invest too much in thinking that political parties will solve the problems,” Makhura said.

He also praised civil society for pressuring the provincial administration to address its own problems, including the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

“If we don’t shift from demonising civil society… some of the problems we have had, including Life Esidimeni, if the attitude of government was different in how it saw civil society, we would not have got where we are,” he said.

Following an alternative dispute resolution and arbitration process set up by the government, retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke ordered the government to pay R1.2 million to the family of each Life Esidimeni victim.

Makhura said South Africans were justified to doubt the new dawn pronounced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the country was plunged into a major crisis under former president Jacob Zuma.

“Sometimes we are not quite sure if we are emerging from this crisis because of the scale of the crisis.

“Sometimes when you hear people, you think they are not sure of what they are seeing. They think we are still in the same space we were a year or so ago.”