Answer to Question #300009 in Political Science for Silence

Question

The notion of “state capture”, for instance, has been given a strange perception, especially in the last few years in South Africa. (a) Refer to current topical developments in the country and discuss the above statement.

Answer 1

State capture is a form of systemic political corruption in which private interests exert significant influence over a government's decision-making processes in order to benefit themselves. In recent years, the concept of state capture has gained a lot of traction in South Africa's political and economic arenas. The strong ties between South Africa's President, Jacob Zuma, and the Gupta family sparked widespread worry about the country's probable state capture. Many observers, on the other hand, claim that state capture has long been a part of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) but that it has been hidden by the fact that the South African state has not been recognized as a failed or failing state. This is primarily due to the fact that the ANC government retains complete administrative authority, maintains some level of peace, and continuously provides public goods to its citizens.

State capture undermines government efficiency, especially when there is a direct link between state capture and corruption, as is the case in South Africa. This generally occurs when a government, such as South Africa, pays more than it should for outsourced goods and services. The efficiency of the state is likewise harmed by state capture. This occurs as a result of poor-quality services and public goods being delivered by patronage networks but less-than-capable service providers, fiscal resources being diverted away from public goods provision for the poor or value-adding economic endowments to servicing some or other patronage network, and state capacity being weakened as a result of appointing pliable but less-than-capable people in key positions, particularly in finance procurement and political bets.