By ex-Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s estimate, the state capture embezzlement of funds has cost South African taxpayers in excess of R100 billion.

That’s as it stands, but we will still be feeling the effects for generations to come, and many in the know believe we will never actually see any form of justice handed down.

In a recent piece on Bloomberg, which has been shared far and wide over the weekend, this country’s ineffective and terminally slow wheels of justice have been picked apart:

Skepticism [sic] is mounting that the alleged masterminds of South Africa’s biggest-ever embezzlement of state funds will ever be held to account.

…while a plethora of reports have implicated businessmen with close ties to former President Jacob Zuma, no one has been convicted so far.

Even if the commission led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo [below] gets to the bottom of what’s known as “state capture,” it has no powers to prosecute anyone. Criminal charges would have to be pursued by the police and National Prosecuting Authority, which have been hamstrung by management upheaval and a shortage of manpower and skills to tackle complex cases.

“The fear is that there could be fatigue over state capture,” said Mzukisi Qobo, an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg and co-author of a study into how the systemic looting was orchestrated. “The institutional mechanisms for enforcing the rule of law have been depleted. The Zondo commission, as necessary as it is, is insufficient to deal decisively with the legacy of institutional decay that the Zuma administration wrought on the country.”

Perhaps most frustratingly, it remains unclear whether the Zondo commission will every hear testimony from Zuma himself. The former president continues to maintain his innocence, calling the commission “politically motivated”.

Thuli Madonsela has also voiced her concern:

“I’m concerned about the matter of state capture remaining unresolved for a long time as ill-gotten assets will be gone by then,” Madonsela said. “If evidence has been lost it’s not due to the commission’s tardiness but the inertia that preceded it, compounded by the lengthy process of vetting its investigators.”

As it stands, just one head has rolled from events during the commission, and that was actually an ally of Ramaphosa, Nhlanhla Nene.

It’s almost as though failing to investigate state capture properly actually benefits many at the top of the political food chain:

The government should have considered establishing a special law-enforcement unit that could have taken immediate and decisive action against those responsible for state capture, according to Ebrahim Fakir, director of the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute, who said South Africans looking for accountability are likely to be disappointed.

“People will not get what they are hoping for from the commission,” he said

Wouldn’t it be nice to see somebody actually being held to account for the brazen looting of a country’s coffers? Sadly, we won’t be holding our breath.

[source:bloomberg]