EDITORIAL: A reckoning for state capture corporates

Last week, Bain & Co was banned from doing business with the state until 2032, because it “engaged in corrupt practices” when competing for a contract with the SA Revenue Service, according to the National Treasury. 

McKinsey was charged by the National Prosecuting Authority with fraud, corruption and theft related to a Transnet contract; former director Vikas Sagar and employee Goitseone Mangope were indicted in the case, in which Brian Molefe and Anoj Singh have been implicated. 

The strident defence of their own conduct by the two consultancies was that they had paid back the fees earned from the contracts in question.

This week the Special Tribunal of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) ordered software company SAP to repay more than R81m to the water & sanitation department, proceeds from a contract found by the SIU to have been unlawful and irregular. This was in addition to an order in March for the company to pay back R413m, the total amount paid by the department to the company over a two-year period. 

Sure, paying back ill-gotten gains is a good way to begin making reparations, but it hardly serves as a deterrent, especially for cash-flush multinationals. 

Politicians should not find easy bedfellows in the corporate sector to facilitate ripping off the SA taxpayer, and true accountability for the free-for-all during the state capture years is just the first step towards ending these unholy alliances. 

In the end, the only way ethical and lawful business practices can be entrenched in SA is for companies to face severe consequences for corrupt and illegal dealings. 

The reckoning over the past two weeks, while long overdue, is welcome.