Corruption has no single cause – it is a syndrome of many concurrent ailments. It is associated, on the one hand, with an individual psychology of self-promotion and enrichment. It is made completely routine and normalised: if everyone else is doing it, why not do it yourself? In the scramble for wealth and power, people take the short cuts that they are offered. In post- apartheid South Africa, in particular, many public officials imagine that they deserve financial reward, that it is their time to eat. As corruption and tender manipulation become more widespread as a means of securing power and privilege, many perceive that they have to participate in the racket in order to get ahead. In this way, corruption has a certain gravitational force – it is self-perpetuating.
Following Jonas’s public statement about the Gupta’s attempt to bribe him, three South African citizens formally requested the then Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, to investigate whether the South African state had been captured by private interests. Jonas’s public statement was the basis for these complaints and he was therefore the key witness in this investigation. On 2 November 2016, Madonsela released a 355-page report called “State of Capture”, which contained substantial evidence of widespread corruption, irregularity and personal enrichment including the involvement of the Gupta family in the appointment and dismissal of cabinet ministers and directors of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The Public Protector recommended the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to verify her findings and wrote . This would ultimately catalyse another historical event in South Africa – View report on State of Capture
Zuma’s last ditch effort to silence Madonsela on state capture
