A steep fall in shareholder value on the JSE, especially of the government employees’ pension fund, has been attributed to Steinhoff, which is accused of inflating its earnings. Last year, KPMG admitted to errors in auditing certain companies linked to state capture. Similarly, several multinational banks have acknowledged that they manipulated currency to influence the foreign exchange market. We’ve grown accustomed to passing harsh judgment on corruption in the public sector. However, the nefarious activities in the private sector are expressed in sophisticated terms that seem to lessen the effect of the corruption, which gets in the way of the developmental state and socioeconomic transformation. Perhaps we should nationalise the local assets of those found with their hands in the cookie jar. Communists argue that the inclination of capital is to make profit at all costs, without caring about the consequences for the poor. They contend that capitalists are insensitive to the cond...
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