Floyd Shivambu, the Secretary-General of the South African opposition political party, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, has dismissed the State capture narrative, which emerged from the judicial inquiry led by former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, as lacking merit.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika on Wednesday, Shivambu, who resigned from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in August, criticised the allegations against several prominent figures, including former President Jacob Zuma, former Eskom and Transnet CEO Brian Molefe, and former Transnet chief executive Siyabonga Gama.
Shivambu, who had been a long-time ally of Julius Malema, the leader of the EFF, explained that for years, he had been misled into believing the accusations against these leaders. He said (via IOL):
Let us deal with those issues emphatically and decisively. The biggest scam in South Africa’s politics and political history was this nonsense or rubbish called State capture narrative which was driven for a very long time.
Some of us got to realise even before the uMkhonto weSizwe party was formed that we were driven into the wrong agenda to pursue President Zuma because he did not want to account to the white capitalist establishment.
There has never been an instance, not even once, where the white capitalist establishment got to direct and micro-manage President Zuma.
He associated with progressive forces domestically and at a global level because he understood the agenda he is fighting for.
Shivambu asserted that State capture did not happen. He said:
There is no such thing that got to happen. That is why even from a mechanical point of view, the people that you say are facing corruption allegations and all of that, are not facing such.
They tried to charge commander Brian Molefe with corruption, but those charges have been dropped. There is no meaningful case against our Member of Parliament, commander Siyabonga Gama.
There is no case against Lucky Montana, there is no case against anyone because all of that State capture nonsense was just fiction that was meant to bastardise and scare off those who were in pursuit of radical economic transformation.
That is the agenda that we openly and proudly associate with. We call on the people of South Africa to realise that we were misled for a very long time, with so many lies.
However, the withdrawal of the case against Brian Molefe was not an exoneration, but a result of poorly formulated charges that preceded the final report of the Zondo Commission.
This followed the High Court in Pretoria accepting Corruption Watch’s formal notice of withdrawal, with both parties agreeing to bear their own costs.
State capture in South Africa refers to a form of systemic political corruption where private interests influence the state’s decision-making processes to their own advantage.
It was associated with the close relationship between Zuma and the Gupta family, who allegedly used their influence to secure lucrative government contracts and appointments.
The Zondo Commission of Inquiry, chaired by former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, investigated these allegations and found substantial evidence of corruption and state capture.
The commission’s report, released in 2022, detailed how state-owned enterprises like Eskom, Transnet, and PRASA were manipulated for personal gain.
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