Compliments of the New Year.
The State Capture phenomenon is highly contested in that there are those who believe it exists and those who don’t like Jacob Zuma. In my simple understanding, the phenomenon refers to a situation where State institutions, its processes and procedures are wholly or in part disabled from functioning as they would normally do. To achieve this, carefully selected public and other officials are put in various and critical positions in the State and State Owned Enterprises amongst others to facilitate the acquisition of the phenomenon. The end result would that the State fails to function as would be expected wherein high value corruption, malfeasance and maladministration becomes the order of the day to the benefit of those who hold and exercise political power. In the process, the Rule of Law, accountability, transparency and good governance at almost all levels of society become an ‘endangered species’.
If my definition of the State Capture phenomenon is correct and can be relied upon, it goes without saying that it has existed in Botswana and probably other countries for as long as one can remember. Just like in South Africa where a single political party in the name of the African National Congress (ANC) has been in power for the last twenty eight years or so, Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has been in power here for over the last fifty years. On that point alone I will strongly argue, it is fair to suggest the longer these political parties have been in uninterrupted power, the better chances there have been for the State Capture phenomenon to exist and flourish. This because on the versions of the ANC and the BDP proffered on many occasions, they believe falsely so that no other political parties in their respective countries have the necessary wherewithal to govern. Only themselves should enjoy the ‘God given’ right or privilege to do so. So what are the signs?
The first sign should start from the Executive and the Legislature where the State Capture phenomenon is actually aided and abetted. The question of whether the Legislature is exercising its oversight function in the context of holding the Executive to account on its decisions has been asked for as long as one can remember. And the answer has been, or is that the former has and is dismally failing to do so. It has since emerged that because of the dismal failure of the former to exercise its oversight function over the latter, the latter has had a free rein in doing as it pleases. Take the example of South Africa where the Constitutional Court had ruled that Jacob Zuma had violated his oath of office. Expectedly, the Legislature as an institution that had elected him, should have taken action against him for the violation which for all intents and purposes, had a serious bearing on the oversight function as already stated and by extension, on the State Capture phenomenon which I argue at the time, was well and truly in full throttle. While Zuma was found to have violated his oath of office, the same should be said about members of the Legislature for having violated their very own by dismally failing to exercise it to act on him. The only reasonable thing the Legislature should have done under the circumstances was to remove Zuma as the President of South Africa.
The very Legislature/Executive unholly alliance situation that exists in South Africa and while not identical but similar, obtains here. The latter exercises in practical terms, overall control over the former in so many respects the result of which is that the former becomes the sorry shadow of itself. The profound cause of this is that the BDP has a healthy majority it uses to shield the Executive with. As a consequence for example, the Auditor Generals’ reports are not acted upon to minimise bad expenditure by different Ministries and their departments; parliament portfolio committees across the board have become largely dysfunctional. In this respect therefore I argue, the State Capture phenomenon has been enabled to exist and flourish.
The other issue that promotes the phenomenon to exist here is the appointment to top positions in the public service and State Owned Enterprises. By and large, these appointments are offered to BDP members/sympathisers/activists. The party members have actually said so on many fora the latest being the Member of Parliament for Shoshong during the last parliamentary sitting. Without saying it, such appointments are more to push a party agenda than the national one. In there lies the inherent danger of the phenomenon to exist and flourish. In the recent past, a good number of senior government officials have been transferred or dismissed from their positions under unexplained circumstances from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime and lately the reported removal of the Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture. The victims will in most cases be those who are not prepared to be tossed around to the extent of violating their own professional ethics. The phenomenon has no place for those who espouse any kind of professional ethics. The list of similar occurrences is endless.
The Zondo Commission has heard how the intelligence community in South Africa was severely decimated probably to the point of no redemption for as long as the State Capture phenomenon remained intact. Large sums of money meant solely for intelligence work were said to have been siphoned for personal gratification where accountability thereto was hidden on a large scale because no lawful authority could properly delve in these shenanigans. Is the local intelligence agency any different? It cannot because as we have heard in parliament from opposition MPs, no audit of funds allocated to the intelligence agency is performed. Neither is any structure established by law functional enough if anything to ensure that the intelligence agency acts as far as the law permits, to do so. It has become evident that the intelligence agency-the DIS, has become so rogue that it is law unto itself where it respects court judgements where and when it suits it. DIS is all over the show whereupon other security agencies have become subservient to it. It is viewed as running roughshod over every other institution even where its own competencies are not required. The current and dismal court actions together with those already disposed of and largely brought by the DPP with the DIS playing a prominent role, bear testimony to the conclusion that the local intelligence agency could be run in a similar if not identical fashion as did the South African intelligence and other security structures.
On the basis of the above arguments, it is fair to conclude there are signs that the State Capture phenomenon has, and is still truly in full throttle in this country. The fact that the Legislature is so terrified of meaningfully holding the Executive to account is no longer a matter in doubt. Like Zuma said the other day that the ANC comes before the country, the Legislature here is speaking the same language that the BDP comes before Botswana and Batswana. Looking at how the Auditor General’s report on Covid-19 Relief Fund was badly mismanaged by the Office of the President to the point of sheer corruption and absolute disregard to the rule book, nothing suggests remotely or otherwise that the BDP MPs will fight very hard and in the public interest that perpetrators are brought to book. It will be one of those reports that become meaningless in all respects. It will be disingenuous of all objective citizens to suggest the State Capture phenomenon has not hit our shores. I argue very strongly that Botswana is at the belly of State Capture occasioned by the BDP much as it was occasioned in South Africa by the ANC. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise as always. Judge for Yourself!
‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’. Covid-19 safety protocols still remain our last line of defence.
