State Capture in South Africa: How and why it happened

By: Jonathan Klaaren and Karl von Holdt and Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale and Robyn Foley and Ryan Brunette and Cherese Thakur and Devi Pillay and Luke Spiropoulos and Reg Rumney and Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh and Michael Marchant and Hennie van Vuuren and Patrick Heller and Barney Pityana

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Synopsis: A multidisciplinary analysis of how state capture unfolded in South Africa and was contested within both civil society and the state itself. It presents a scholarly and empirical understanding of how things went awry, even with various regulating bodies in place, and how to prevent state capture from happening again in the future.The metaphor of ‘state capture’ has dominated South Africa’s political discourse in the post-Zuma presidency era. What is state capture and how does it manifest? Is it just another example of a newly independent, failed African state? And is it unique to South Africa? The contributors in this collection try to explain the phenomenon from a variety of viewpoints and disciplines. All hold fast to the belief that the democracy that promised the country so much when apartheid ended has been significantly eroded, resulting in most citizens expressing a loss of hope for the future. Read together, the essays cumulatively show not only how state capture was enabled and who benefitted, but also how and by whom it was scrutinised and exposed in order to hold those in power accountable. The book aims to present a scholarly and empirical understanding of how things went awry, even with various regulating bodies in place, and how to prevent state capture from happening again in the future.