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The report examines the Lephalale Local Municipality's struggle to establish local governance and self-sufficiency in the wake of the Medupi coal power station project. It analyzes how the municipality, historically dependent on corporations like Eskom and Exxaro, navigates the complexities of land ownership, basic service infrastructure, and the influence of private capital and party politics to realize its ambition of becoming a post-apartheid city.

This briefing, delivered by Richard Sizani, Chairperson of the Public Service Commission, addresses the tension between political and professional roles in South Africa's public administration. It advocates for a clear demarcation of roles to prevent service delivery breakdowns, proposes a structured professionalisation of the civil service and procurement functions, and suggests reforms to curb patronage and mismanagement in state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The research traces the expansion of South Africa's national government departments from 1994 to 2014. It identifies three distinct phases: incremental growth under Nelson Mandela driven by democratic transition and public demand; consolidation and centralised steering under Thabo Mbeki; and punctuated expansion under Jacob Zuma, which the author argues was driven largely by patronage and 'runaway state-building'. The paper concludes that the state machinery has become 'functionally splintered', with organisational growth often serving political ends rather than improving policy delivery capacity.

The document outlines the proceedings of a three-day conference focused on the causes, mechanisms, and aftermath of state capture in South Africa. It examines the role of apartheid legacies, the influence of the private sector, the vulnerability of state-owned enterprises, and the failure of oversight institutions. The report emphasizes that state capture is a politico-economic project involving both formal and informal power, often facilitated by the politicization of the bureaucracy and the erosion of the criminal justice system. It argues for comprehensive state reform, including electoral changes, transparency in party funding, and the protection of whistleblowers, while drawing comparisons with state capture in Nigeria, Kenya, and Angola.

The document details the systematic repurposing of Eskom's governance to facilitate large-scale corruption by a politically connected elite, specifically the Gupta family. It highlights the hollowing out of technical expertise through biased board and executive appointments, leading to irregular procurement in coal, IT, and infrastructure. Key cases include the awarding of overpriced contracts to Tegeta and the use of Trillian as a consultancy conduit. The authors argue that these failures have compromised Eskom's financial sustainability and South Africa's economic growth, recommending structural reforms and the unbundling of the utility.

The report argues that South Africa's lack of regulation on private political funding has enabled a system where state power is leveraged for party finance, leading to 'state capture' and the hollowing out of administrative capacity. It highlights the use of state resources for campaigning and the role of internal party factions in driving political corruption. PARI recommends mandatory disclosure of all funding, caps on private donations, and an independent monitoring body.

The document traces South Africa's fiscal history, detailing how British colonial authorities introduced direct taxes like the Hut Tax in 1849 to raise revenue and force African men into wage labour. It examines the evolution of the tax state through the Union of South Africa, the apartheid era's regressive policies, and the post-1994 transition to a modern, integrated system under the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

The paper traces the growth of South Africa's national bureaucracy from 1994 to 2014, identifying a trajectory of sustained but uneven expansion. It argues that while early changes under President Mandela were driven by democratic transition and public demand, the Mbeki era focused on centralized coordination, and the Zuma era saw a punctuated increase in departments potentially driven by patronage and 'runaway state-building'. The author concludes that the state has become 'functionally splintered' rather than simply bloated, leading to redundancies and coordination failures.

The report describes a 'silent coup' in South Africa where a power elite centered around President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family established a symbiotic relationship between the constitutional state and a 'shadow state'. This network repurposed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and government departments to redirect public rents into private hands. The authors argue that the rhetoric of 'radical economic transformation' (RET) was used as a smokescreen for this systemic looting. Key mechanisms of capture included the manipulation of SOE boards, the ballooning of the public service to ensure political loyalty, and the subversion of security and intelligence agencies to protect the network and neutralize opposition. The report highlights specific cases of corruption at Transnet, Eskom, and Denel, and warns that the proposed Russian nuclear deal is a primary vehicle for massive future rent extraction.

The report examines the Mogalakwena Local Municipality as a site of 'perpetual instability' driven by cyclical factionalism within the ANC at local, regional, and provincial levels. It details how political battles over the appointment of the Municipal Manager (MM) and other senior officials led to a breakdown of the party-state interface, resulting in a complete municipal shutdown in 2014, the diversion of public funds toward 'lawfare' and private security, and a severe halt in basic service delivery. The study argues that the municipality's collapse reflects broader institutional fragility within the South African state under the Zuma administration.

The document details how a network of officials and politicians captured the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, specifically within the Human Settlements and Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) departments. It describes the use of 'deviations' in procurement to funnel funds to a small pool of contractors and the role of political factions within the ANC in enabling this corruption. The author analyzes these events through frameworks of neo-patrimonialism and the 'political marketplace,' noting that such capture led to administrative decay, financial crises, and a loss of public trust, eventually resulting in a decline in ANC electoral support in the 2016 elections. The paper concludes by evaluating a 2015 intervention led by Mayor Danny Jordaan and the National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) to restore accountability and clean up the administration.

The document examines the conceptual and political drivers of corruption in post-apartheid South Africa. It contends that the African National Congress (ANC) deliberately rejected the liberal model of a neutral, meritocratic bureaucracy in favour of 'cadre deployment' and a partisan state to achieve social and economic transformation. This shift, combined with the adoption of 'public management' reforms that reduced rule-based discipline and the decentralisation of procurement to foster a black capitalist class, created a system where political loyalty superseded administrative competence. The author suggests that current 'state capture'—including the influence of the Gupta family—is a consequence of this eroded administrative autonomy and internal ANC factionalism.

The document analyzes Botswana's transition from a 'skeletal tax state' under British colonial rule to a modern, efficient tax state. It highlights how early negotiations between colonial administrators and traditional chiefs prevented the tax rebellions seen in other colonies, and how the discovery of diamonds in the 1970s initially slowed broader tax reform due to high mineral revenues. The paper concludes that recent reforms, particularly after the 2008 global economic crisis, have successfully diversified the tax base through the introduction of VAT and improved administration via the Botswana Unified Revenue Service.

A group of 27 former South African Directors General is calling for an Independent Public Inquiry into 'state capture' by the Gupta family. They express concern that private interests are pressuring public officials to break procurement and appointment rules, undermining democratic institutions and service delivery. The group urges investigations into irregular government tenders, suspicious senior appointments, and illicit financial flows out of South Africa.

The report identifies systemic failures in leadership, governance, and basic administration as the primary drivers of poor municipal audit outcomes in South Africa. Key findings highlight a lack of accountability among councilors, the ineffectiveness of Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPACs), and severe capacity constraints in smaller, remote municipalities. The authors argue that current interventions focus on 'quick fixes' rather than structural issues and recommend a fundamental redesign of business processes, the abolition of MPACs, and the creation of an independent national compliance structure for internal audits.

The document traces the evolution of the South African National Treasury from the transition to democracy, highlighting how it consolidated power through constitutional mandates, internal restructuring, and strong political backing from the ANC executive, particularly under Thabo Mbeki. It analyzes the shift from the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy, which cemented the Treasury's role as the guardian of fiscal discipline and neoliberal orthodoxy. The paper further examines the Treasury's attempts to balance central control with 'cooperative governance' through the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) of 1999. While these reforms improved transparency and reporting, the authors argue they often resulted in a 'compliance mentality' and failed to significantly improve service delivery or ensure genuine fiscal autonomy for sub-national governments. Finally, the paper discusses the Treasury's increasing political vulnerability following the 2007 Polokwane conference and the brief removal of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene in 2015, concluding that the institution remains a pivotal but contested site of power influenced by both domestic politics and global financial markets.

The report examines Project PN714, an intervention to improve supply chain management (SCM) in a provincial education department in South Africa. The project employed a combination of 'rapid results' (RRI), 'action-learning', and the twinning of technical support with culture change facilitation. While the project faced significant obstacles at the Head Office level—including leadership instability, political interference, and a lack of senior management buy-in—it achieved observable successes at the District Office and school levels. Specifically, procurement processes in the District Office improved, and the administration of the School Nutrition Programme in eight pilot schools was enhanced. The report concludes that in highly politicised and dysfunctional environments, identifying 'spaces of professionalism' and using an iterative, adaptive approach is more effective than conventional top-down technical interventions.

Following the 1994 elections, South Africa faced severe economic decline, extreme income inequality, and a precarious fiscal state characterized by high net borrowing, poor expenditure controls, and rising national debt, exacerbated by the re-incorporation of the TBVC states.

The report examines the crisis in municipal water and sanitation management in South Africa, noting that while infrastructure access has expanded, service functionality remains uneven. It argues that the 'skills shortage' is not merely a lack of training but a result of historical devaluation of technical trades and the adoption of New Public Management (NPM) reforms that prioritise senior managers over operational staff. This 'hollowing out' of the local state has left municipalities without the essential artisans—such as millwrights and plumbers—needed for routine maintenance, exacerbating service failures in historically disadvantaged areas.

The report analyzes the transition of South Africa's public procurement from a centralized system to a highly decentralized 'contract state'. It identifies systemic weaknesses in procurement planning, costing, and supplier selection, which it argues lead to uneven service delivery and opportunities for corruption. The authors suggest that the current state capacity depends on managing private sector contracts rather than internal administration, and they propose professionalizing the civil service as a potential solution.