VIDEO: 27 June 2017: UCT Panel Discussion on State Capture and the Emergence of a Shadow State in SA

The Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU), in conjunction with the University of Cape Town’s Faculties of Commerce and Law and the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST) at Stellenbosch University, hosted a panel discussion focusing on the recently published report, “Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa is Being Stolen”, on 27th June 2017.

The South African political crisis is not simply about capture of the state by a corrupt elite. The recently published study reveals that a neopatrimonial system of governance has emerged that rests on a highly unstable symbiosis of a constitutional and an emerging shadow state.

Prof Haroon Bhorat (DPRU Director) chaired the conversation, with panellists drawn from the State Capacity Research Group who co-authored the #BetrayalReport, tasked with assembling the most comprehensive empirical analysis done to date on the dynamics and political crisis of the Zuma-led state. Guest speakers included Prof Mark Swilling (CST Co-Director), Dr Thabi Leoka (Argon Asset Management Economic Strategist) and Mr Sikhulekile Duma (CST Researcher), with constitutional law expert, Prof Pierre De Vos (UCT Dept. of Public Law), as respondent.