A Collective Civil Society Response to the Zondo Commission and the State Capture Report

This report, produced by the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture (CSWG), provides a collective reflection on the findings and recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture (the Zondo Commission). It evaluates the Commission's successes and failures, critiques the South African executive's response to the findings, and proposes specific legislative and institutional reforms to prevent future state capture and ensure accountability for corrupt actors.

• The Zondo Commission produced a massive evidentiary record, including 75,099 pages of transcribed oral evidence from 300 witnesses and over 1.7 million pages of documentary evidence, involving 1,438 implicated companies and individuals.
• The CSWG identifies several critical failures of the Zondo Commission, including an uneven allocation of time for witnesses, the failure to question members of the Gupta family and Salim Essa, and a lack of investigation into the private sector's role in money laundering.
• The Commission failed to quantify the social and financial costs of state capture, neglecting to detail how looting led to economic instability, austerity measures, and the compromise of human rights such as healthcare and education for the most vulnerable.
• The CSWG disputes President Cyril Ramaphosa's assertion that state capture is in the past, arguing that serious corruption remains pervasive in government and that the mechanisms of state capture remain largely unchanged.
• Law enforcement agencies, specifically the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), are criticized for a lack of successful prosecutions in state capture cases and for rudimentary failures in presenting evidence in court.
• The CSWG supports the debarment of Bain and Company for its role in destroying the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and advocates for similar accountability for other firms like KPMG, McKinsey, and PwC.
• The report calls for urgent reforms to whistle-blower protection, including sanctioning employers who retaliate or use non-disclosure agreements, and creating an independent, anonymous reporting channel.
• The CSWG argues that the public procurement system was the primary site for the redirection of state resources and calls for a public beneficial ownership register and enhanced transparency across the procurement value chain.
• The report highlights the need to professionalize public administration by ensuring appointments and dismissals are based solely on merit, performance, and representativity, thereby insulating the state from the ANC's policy of cadre deployment.
• The CSWG notes that the Zondo Commission made almost no recommendations for the criminal justice system, despite finding that law enforcement and intelligence agencies were deliberately weakened to shield illicit activities.

APA

Public Affairs Research Institute (2024). A Collective Civil Society Response to the Zondo Commission and the State Capture Report. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CSWG2024-Response-to-Recommendations_PARI-logo-correct.pdf

Chicago

Public Affairs Research Institute. A Collective Civil Society Response to the Zondo Commission and the State Capture Report. 2024. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CSWG2024-Response-to-Recommendations_PARI-logo-correct.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Public Affairs Research Institute |title=A Collective Civil Society Response to the Zondo Commission and the State Capture Report |date=March 2024 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CSWG2024-Response-to-Recommendations_PARI-logo-correct.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{publicaffairsresearchinstitute2024collective, author = {{Public Affairs Research Institute}}, title = {{A Collective Civil Society Response to the Zondo Commission and the State Capture Report}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CSWG2024-Response-to-Recommendations_PARI-logo-correct.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }