Patronage, state capture and oligopolistic monopoly in South Africa: The slide from a weak to a dysfunctional state?

Labuschagne, Pieter

doi:10.18820/24150479/aa49i2.3

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In South Africa, where US$78bn (ZAR 1.5tn) was lost to corruption from 2014 to 2019, most losses have been attributed to state funds embezzled through state capture (Buthelezi, 2021). Labuschagne (2017) describe state capture as a state being captured by external third parties manipulating primary government functions at the expense of social welfare. A study conducted by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) assigns the composition of IFFs to three main contributors, with corruption contributing 5%, the proceeds of commercial tax avoidance at 65% and criminal activities at 30% (Mustafa et al, 2019).…”

Section: Illegal Financial Flows and Mis-invoicing In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of freight forwarding companies in detecting and investigating trade-based money laundering

Makkink,

Steyn,

Bezuidenhout

2024

JMLC

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Purpose This study aims to investigate the role of freight forwarding companies in detecting and reporting trade-based money laundering. The proximity of freight forwarding companies to shipping-related trade-based money laundering red flags places them in an ideal position to detect suspicious transactions. Design/methodology/approach The study used semi-structured interviews with expert participants in freight forwarding shipping and compliance aspects around freight forwarding. This study focuses on the South African context. Findings Freight forwarding companies are well-positioned to detect, investigate and report on trade-based money laundering schemes. However, the companies are not always aware of the guidelines designed to assist in identifying trade-based money laundering schemes. Thus, freight forwarding companies develop internal processes to identify trade anomalies but are often unable to link trade anomalies to illegal financial flows and trade-based money laundering schemes. Research limitations/implications The current regulations on money laundering can be extended to freight forwarding companies by the respective regulators for enhanced anti-money laundering protection. This study is limited to freight forwarding companies in a South African context. Practical implications Increased awareness among staff in freight forwarding companies can assist them in identifying trade-based money laundering red flags to detect and prevent trade-based money laundering schemes. Social implications This paper assists other role players and policymakers in the trade process to create a better awareness of trade-based money laundering. The limited obligations on freight forwarding companies to comply with anti-money laundering regulations lead to a more volunteer-like compliance practice. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that offers insight into the role of freight forwarding companies in detecting trade-based money laundering in South Africa.

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Section: Illegal Financial Flows and Mis-invoicing In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of freight forwarding companies in detecting and investigating trade-based money laundering

Makkink,

Steyn,

Bezuidenhout

2024

JMLC

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“…At the point of twenty years of the democratic experiment, it was already unambiguously evident that the promise of "a better life for all" was a pipe dream (see Tsheola & Sebola, 2012;Tsheola, 2013Tsheola, , 2017Tsheola & Lukhele, 2014;Tsheola, Ramonyai & Segage, 2014;Chipkin, 2016;Dhamija, 2020;. Since then, the ANC government has virtually subjected South Africans to a dizzying rollercoaster of basic services deficiencies, poverty, inequality, unemployment, corruption, state capture and dysfunctional state institutions, violence and defective governance (see Chipkin 2016;Fazekas & Tóth, 2016;Labuschagne, 2017;Mamabolo & Tsheola, 2017;Tsheola & Mmotlana, 2018;de Klerk & Solomon, 2019;Tsheola & Molefe, 2019;Dhamija, 2020;. To this extent, this paper seeks to frame a theoretical argument that suggests that the locus of the reasons for a democratic South Africa being in its current state of despair, facing a realistic disaster, has to be established in the academic and political arenas, wherein fixation on scientific dogma, conceptual binaries and governance utopianisms has scorched lived experiences of all South Africans.…”

Section: Unitary Realities Oneness Of Science and Humanity's Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This section has described "lived experiences" of the majority of South Africans, far removed from that envisaged in the principles undergirded by the Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights. It has long been established that achieving "a better life for all" in a democratic South Africa would not be automatic, it would require deliberate appropriate action on the part of the state to create enabling environments (Tsheola, 2002a(Tsheola, , 2002b(Tsheola, , 2012b(Tsheola, , 2013(Tsheola, , 2017Fazekas & Tóth, 2016;Labuschagne, 2017;Mamabolo & Tsheola, 2017;Tsheola & Lukhele, 2014;Tsheola & Makhudu, 2017;Tsheola, Ramoroka & Sebola, 2017;de Klerk & Solomon, 2019;Dhamaji, 2020;. As of 2022, this paper concedes that the South African state has not created an enabling environment within which citizens could make use of productive opportunities to secure better and improved lived experiences.…”

Section: Statistical Portrait Of Scorched-earth South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Scorched-earth democratic South Africa: Governance utopianisms as derivatives of scientific dogma

Tsheola,

Sebola

2023

IJRBS

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This article explores theorisation that identifies the locus of South Africa’s scorched-earth lived experiences in the fixation on scientific dogma and conceptual binaries as well as governance utopianisms, wherein the latter are derivatives of the former. It explores South African’s lived experiences over the past 28 years in order to demonstrate that politicians’ reverence for governance utopianism has failed to appreciate the unity of realities, facts, values, objectivities, subjectivities, permanences, fluxes and changes, which consist of complex intricacies that are not amenable to dogmatic “incontrovertibly true” sets of authoritative principles and catchy governance utopianisms, because humanity’s imagination and creative thought are experimental in nature given the diversity of spatialities and “geography differences.” From desktop-based research literature survey and theorisation, the article advances a theoretical argument that if “science is one,” and if reality is unitary, then fragmentary theories and models are creatures of humanity’s world of imperfections. Additionally, the article analyses statistical evidence drawn from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) in order to demonstrate that the scorched-earth metaphor is real for South Africa’s 28-year democratic governance. It finds that in South Africa’s twenty-eight years of democratic experiment, lived experiences resemble scorched-earth metaphor with no silver lining in sight. Philosophically, the paper concludes that if what resides on God’s left is on humanity’s right, then the “rightness” and/or “leftness” of people consists of intractable complexities of particularity, individuality and incommunicability that have led to fragmentary science, fixation on dogma and binaries as well as politicians’ reverence for governance utopianisms, simultaneously as society’s lived experiences resemble normalised scorched-earth.

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“…102 In the case of a captured state, elected officials who are part of the systemic state capture network retain the control of resource allocation and a monopoly on political power. 103 This approach suggests that if officials have less access to resources it will lead to fewer opportunities to act corruptly. 104 Putting constraints on government officials practically involve imposing laws that condemn corrupt acts combined with effective law enforcement, an anticorruption commission (or in SA, a state capture commission) that reports to government and an independent judiciary.…”

Section: Policies and Lessons From Other Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Institutionalisation of endemic corruption: State capture in South Africa

Klerk

Solomon

2019

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Systemic corruption has become the norm in South Africa. This is evident in the recent Transparency International’s Corruption Index. During the Zuma Administration, the scale and magnitude of corruption intensified and the term “state capture” was used to describe this phenomenon. Given the dramatic developments of February 2018 which witnessed the stepping down of President Jacob Zuma and his replacement by President Cyril Ramaphosa, there was hope that the new president’s promised “New Dawn” would result in reversing state capture, and more broadly, the politics of patronage. Whilst the Ramaphosa Administration has undertaken several measures to undo state capture including a cabinet reshuffle and the appointment of new boards at South Africa’s trouble State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), much more needs to be done. Drawing on international best practice from Bulgaria to Tunisia and Hong Kong, this article proposes concrete recommendations to undo state capture.

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Patronage, state capture and oligopolistic monopoly in South Africa: The slide from a weak to a dysfunctional state?

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

The role of freight forwarding companies in detecting and investigating trade-based money laundering

The role of freight forwarding companies in detecting and investigating trade-based money laundering

Scorched-earth democratic South Africa: Governance utopianisms as derivatives of scientific dogma

The Institutionalisation of endemic corruption: State capture in South Africa

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