Mark Gevisser argues that even if Thabo Mbeki was not corrupt, his loyalty to his ANC comrades predisposed state institutions to Jacob Zuma’s capture of the state.
The liberation struggle in South Africa, in Africa and elsewhere in the world where people once lived in chains, was aimed at achieving freedom for ordinary folk. The freedom of the individual is, in a way, the higher purpose of the modern state. The struggle for freedom in Africa all too often has morphed into the struggle for attaining and holding on to power, which is waged by “Big Men” leaders who abuse their position by repurposing their high office for private gain. Kleptocracy or government by thieves is the order of the day in much of Africa and it is real and present in SA too, before, during, and after the heyday of State Capture during the Zuma years.