The governing alliance routinely ignores the constitution in order to pursue its private interests.

Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo asked former cabinet member Barbara Hogan whether anything in the law facilitated state capture. This is a good question.

It appears the constitution was, and is, routinely ignored and flouted by the governing alliance’s delinquents to effect the deployment of loyal “cadres” in the public administration and the state-owned enterprises (SOEs). That loyalty was easily transmogrified into the state capture project’s “parallel processes” run by the ANC’s Jacob Zuma faction from Luthuli House with ample support from the executive and legislature, Hogan included.

The constitution requires the cultivation of good human resource management practices in the public administration and SOEs. It also requires cabinet members not to act in any way that is inconsistent with their office or exposes themselves to the risk of a conflict between their official responsibilities and their private interests. Nor may they improperly benefit any other person.

Their oaths of office require them to uphold the constitution, not undermine it with the deployment of unsuitable and under-qualified cadres.

Cadre deployment has been declared illegal in the high court. There was no appeal against this, rightly so. The aims of the national democratic revolution are radically at odds with the requirements of the constitution. The revolution may be regarded as a “private interest” of those who subscribe to its eternally unsatisfied longing for hegemonic control of all the levers of power in society.

It is no wonder that the Zuma state capture project nearly succeeded and may yet do so. President Cyril Ramaphosa is also a “revolutionary”.

Paul Hoffman SC
Director, Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa

Letter published in Bdlive on 13 November 2018.