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The term state capture was first used to describe a pervasive form of S meta-corruption in former Soviet bloc states after the Cold War. In this T edited volume, leading voices on democracy and governance in Africa A T STATE explore the applicability of the idea to the African context and ask the question: 'How “captured” are African states in 2018?’ E C Despite the fact that regular elections have become the norm on the A CAPTURE IN continent, the attainment and consolidation of substantive P democracy, including socioeconomic transformation and social T U justice, remain elusive for many African democracies, even some of AFRICA R those viewed as relatively mature. E I One of the key prerequisites for the consolidation of democracy is that N there should be established 'rules of the game'. State capture undermines these rules by eroding democratic processes and state A institutions, thus depriving citizens of the rights and benefits that F R OLD THREATS, should be provided by the state. This leads to a system in which power I is systematically diverted from citizens, unravelling democratic gains C NEW PACKAGING? and socioeconomic transformation. A The contributors to this volume explore the concept of state capture and its place in democratic discourse in Africa, analysing examples ranging from South Africa to Madagascar, the United States to the former Soviet bloc, in an effort to contribute meaningfully to the debate about the consolidation of transitional democracies. O L D T H R E A T S , N E W P A C ISBN: 978-1-920446-77-2 K A G I N EDITED BY G MELANIE MEIROTTI & ? 9 781920 446772 Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa GRANT MASTERSON State Capture in Africa Cover Final Wednesday, June 20, 2018 9:11:18 AM STATE CAPTURE IN AFRICA i ii STATE CAPTURE IN AFRICA OLD THreats, NEW PACKAGING Edited by Melanie Meirotti and Grant Masterson Foreword by Justice Albie Sachs Former judge of the South African Constitutional Court iii Published by EISA 14 Park Road, Richmond Johannesburg South Africa P.O Box 740 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa Tel: +27 11 381 6000 Fax: +27 11 482 6163 Email: [email protected] www.eisa.org.za ©EISA 2018 ISBN: 978-1-920446-77-2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of EISA. EISA is a non-partisan organisation which seeks to promote democratic principles, free and fair elections, a strong civil society and good governance at all levels of African society. EISA gratefully acknowledges the financial support for this project from the Embassy of Sweden and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa. Copy editor: Pat Tucker Layout and design: Sue Sandrock Cover design and printing: Corpnet Design iv CONTENTS Abbreviations and Acronyms vi Foreword Justice Albie Sachs vii Introduction 1 SECTION 1 CONCEPTUALISING state CAPTURE Chapter 1 State capture: Conceptual considerations Tom Lodge 13 Chapter 2 What’s new about ‘state capture’? Roger Southall 29 Chapter 3 Africa Australis: Imperium in imperio? Anthoni van Nieuwkerk 44 SECTION 2 CAPTURING DEMOCRACY: THE HOLLOWING OUT OF state INSTITUTIONS Chapter 4 Encoding the rules: Capturing the state through the electoral process Olufunto Akinduro and Grant Masterson 59 Chapter 5 State capture and the exploitation of natural resources: The ‘Rosewood Scandal’ in Madagascar Randrara Rakotomalala 71 Chapter 6 State capture and elections in Zimbabwe Derek Matyszak 91 Chapter 7 The battle for Kenya’s fourth estate: State capture and the Kenyan media during the 2017 election Nanjala Nyabola 104 Chapter 8 South Africa and the capture of the executive: Undermining transformation? Mpumelelo Mkhabela 119 SECTION 3 CONSEQUENCES OF CAPTURE AND LESSONS LEARNT Chapter 9 Enter state capture: Citizen perceptions of corruption and the corrosion of democratic culture and institutions Jamy Felton and Sibusiso Nkomo 133 Chapter 10 State capture in the USA: Lessons and challenges for Sustainable Democracy in Africa John Stremlau 150 Chapter 11 Corruption, state capture and anti-corruption initiatives in post-communist countries Alexander Stoyanov 167 Conclusion 183 Appendix 189 Consolidated bibliography 192 Contributors 209 v AbbreViations anD ACRONYMS ANC African National Congress AU African Union CAR Central African Republic ICC International Criminal Court ICP Italian Communist Party ICT information and communication technology IEBC Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission IEC Independent Electoral Commission IFFs illicit financial flows KBC Kenya Broadcasting Corporation KTN Kenya Television Network MAPAR Miaraka Amin’i Presida Andry Rajoelina MDC-T Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai NCIC National Cohesion and Integration Commission NDP National Development Plan NGO non-governmental organisation NMG Nation Media Group PEMMO Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation PSCU Presidential Strategic Communications Unit RFI Radio France International RMG Royal Media Group SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SADC Southern African Development Community SARS South African Revenue Service SDA Special Defence Account TIM Tiako i Madagasikara WMC white monopoly capital ZANU-PF Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front ZEC Zimbabwe Election Commission ZLHR Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights vi ForeWORD Justice Albie Sachs, former judge of the South African Constitutional Court In 1988, while I was in exile in Mozambique, an attempt was made on my life. I was blown up by South African security agents and lost my arm and sight in one eye, but I survived. I felt liberated and overjoyed by my survival and was totally convinced that, as I recovered, so South Africa, too, would get better. The vengeance I sought for this attack, and those against countless others, was what I called ‘soft vengeance’. This eventually came in the form of democracy, an equal vote and self-determination for all South Africans. The vote was of vital importance as it gave more than just power to the people, it gave dignity and recognition to each and every person. It became a symbol of a new, shared South African nationhood, of equal citizenship in a united country. It declared, quite literally, that each person counted as much as any other. Universal adult suffrage on a common voters’ roll was enshrined as a foundational principle of our new Constitution. The right to vote and to stand for political office was expressly included in the Bill of Rights. These factors are inherently linked to the mandate of EISA as a leading institution and an influential player in election monitoring and democracy. EISA has played a pivotal role in observing the emergence of democracy through the vote, first in South Africa and, over the decades, across the continent. EISA has also expanded its mandate beyond observing elections to supporting the entrenchment of democratic institutions. Entrenching democracy was at the heart of EISA’s 2017 symposium as it considered whether state capture is an obstacle to democratic consolidation in Africa. Looking back on our South African experience we recall that exile was often very harsh. But one positive side effect was that we were able to live in or travel to countries on all continents. We saw at first hand both societies that were transforming themselves in very positive ways and societies in which formerly brave freedom fighters had gone on to amass power and riches for themselves, their families and their friends. For that reason we built into the Constitution special protections for upholding the rights of citizens and for maintaining the integrity of public institutions such as the Electoral Commission, the Judicial Service Commission and the Public Protector, to protect our democracy from state capture. But having a beautiful Constitution alone will not make us a ‘beautiful people’. We have to use the numerous institutions created by the Constitution vii to challenge abuses of power and corruption. The South African Constitution not only aimed for perfection, it required us to guard against corruption. We needed to guard against ourselves. We had to acknowledge that people are capable of doing wrong in the name of doing right. Therefore, in constructing the Constitution great attention was paid to creating protections against slippage, personal ambition and the abuse of authority. The whole structure of the Constitution emphasised the importance of public life being governed by an organic body of humane norms and values. We also established a strong Constitutional Court, with robust review powers, to ensure that this value system would permeate all exercises of public power. In recent years South Africa has learnt about serious attempts to hollow out our democracy by capturing important state institutions. Fortunately we have been able to witness the value of having strong and independent constitutionally-created institutions. In particular, the complementary relationship among the Office of the Public Protector, the Judicial Service Commission and the Independent Electoral Commission, vindicated by the Constitutional Court, has played a major role in the push back against ‘state c apt u re’. Attacks on the institutions of democracy are by no means unique to South Africa. As pointed out above, other African states have also experienced such abuses of power. The diversion of power away from citizens to private interests in a situation of state capture is especially worrying for African states that fought so hard for liberation and self-determination for the people. This book is an important contribution to deepening our understanding of and provoking discourse about the idea of state capture. The contributing authors give examples of abuses of power, manipulation of the rules and regulations of state institutions and attacks on civic spaces. There is a need to protect our hard won democratic mechanisms but this requires a deep appreciation of the evolving threats they face.

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