A decolonial analysis of the Justice Zondo Commission report on state capture
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Authors
Mkhwanazi, George
Issue Date
2024-08
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
State capture , Corruption , Coloniality , Decoloniality , White monopoly capital , South Africa , Post-apartheid , Global South
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study analyses the Justice Zondo Commission Report on state capture, which is intrinsically embedded in coloniality, by using a decoloniality framework. The central objective of this research is to examine and critique the discourses of privilege and power in South Africa's political establishments which flourish in the report´s claims of legal and constitutional objectivity while excluding interpretations based on coloniality of power, knowledge and being to achieve justice and legitimacy. This study problematises the report’s definition and framing of the state capture discourse in South Africa on grounds of its neoliberal foundations which are disguised in legality and constitutionality.
Decoloniality as a theoretical framework, as espoused by the philosophers and theorists referred to in this study, is suited for analysing power and knowledge relations, which are central to the questions and objectives of this study. As such, decoloniality adds an insightful approach to the phenomenon of state capture, which has been widely framed against the backdrop of a populist neoliberal and polemic understanding that conceals
rather than reveals how power and privilege function systemically and structurally. Methodologically, this study employed a qualitative research design, utilizing content
analysis, historical-critical analysis, thematic analysis, and discourse analysis—all within a decolonial interpretive framework. In short, this study observes that those discourses of power and privilege that identify corruption and state capture from powerful and privileged vantage political and economic points, might be corrupt and damaging to social justice themselves. In other words, those responsible for significant structural and systemic
corruption may highlight small-scale corruption against their competitors and use their hegemony to magnify such occurrences to disguise their own version of state capture. Accordingly, this study, in its limited way, attempts to reveal how terms such as “state capture” in South Africa may actually be produced and propagated to conceal the coloniality of the state as shaped by the colonial experience, history, and its aftermath in
post-Apartheid South Africa specifically and the Global South generally. This study postulates that the neoliberal nation-state, such as post-1994 South Africa, was shaped
intrinsically by the colonial, imperial, and Apartheid systems and structures of economic and political fundamentals. In the pursuit of conducting a decolonial analysis of the Justice Zondo Commission report in South Africa, this study explores the relevant and available
literature on decoloniality, state capture, the state in South Africa, Apartheid legacy as well as the aftermath of Apartheid to explore the elected subject area of the study. From the vantage points of its decolonial theoretical framework, literature, and methodology,
this study challenges the mainstream journalistic, media, scholarly and popular understanding of the concept of ‘state capture’ in South Africa specifically and the Global
South, in general. Addressing South Africa’s socio-economic crisis is impossible without a legitimate diagnosis of its root causes. The decolonial theory applied in this study aimed not only to transform the substance of intellectual and academic discussions on state capture and corruption but also challenged the underlying structures and language that sustain these narratives. In doing so, the study sought to reshape the tone of the discourse in ways that disrupt existing imbalances in global power relations. It is critical to note that decoloniality does not claim any state of neutrality and universal truthfulness. It does not deny the potential for its partiality or bias but courageously asserts
that all knowledge is partial. This study aims to contribute to the theory and literature and expand the scholarship in the disciplines of development studies, political studies, and media in South Africa, specifically and the Global South, in general. Furthermore, this study aims to inspire further research and studies on the critical topic of corruption, state capture, and post-coloniality in South Africa, Africa, and the Global South. In summary,
the issues of corruption, state capture, law and justice in South Africa, Africa, and the Global South are not as simple and clear-cut as they appear to be in the mainstream and social media, society, and the public discourses.
Description
Text in English