JONNY STEINBERG: Crucial decisions by Mbeki at the root of state capture
Those welcoming his interventions in ANC matters judge him off too lightly on his inadequacies as leader
On the cusp of his 80th birthday former president Thabo Mbeki has rolled up his sleeves and is getting stuck into ANC business. Many have greeted this autumnal renewal of his energy with enthusiasm. His tenure as president is widely regarded as the last time sanity and seriousness characterised SA governance. If he could sprinkle some of the residues of that past over the present, some believe, there may be hope.
I think history has thus far let Mbeki off too lightly. He is far more implicated in SA’s current quagmire than many believe. In the end, two things made state capture possible. The first was the disabling of the justice system, giving licence to systemic corruption. The second was the architectural design of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which permitted them to be captured...
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