OUTA welcomes and embraces PARI / SACC State Capture Report

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomes the research and position taken by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), in collaboration with the South African Council of Churches (SACC), which exposes how State institutions have been repurposed to serve the #ZumaPowerElite. 

In their detailed and damning report, Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa is being stolen, the researchers warn that South Africa faces the danger of a silent coup by a rotten, dangerous and expanding powerful elite who are concentrated around President Jacob Zuma and which has been allowed to flourish by an immoral government. 

While OUTA and others have heeded the warning signs of state capture, by taking action against corruption and maladministration for some time now, we believe far more needs to happen from more sectors of society, to realise the call to dismantle President Zuma’s captive structures. 

“OUTA therefore endorses this report and encourages all concerned citizens and civil society entities to do the same,” says Ben Theron, chief operating officer at OUTA. “The report is thorough and provides a scathing explanation of how state-owned entities (SOEs) are pillaged to enrich the Zuma power elite.” 

Many of the state entities highlighted in the PARI report, which lists 166 cases amounting to R17bn of fraud and corruption between 2010-2016, are squarely in OUTA’s sights and some of the cases recorded form part of OUTA’s investigations and actions being undertaken to correct the unwarranted conduct. 

OUTA furthermore supports the report as it fuels civil courage and heightens civil activism to correct the trajectory of the Government’s failure to act in the best interests of the people. We will engage and partner with the SACC and PARI, to assist with necessary action in the ongoing journey to hold the perpetrators to account. It is also important to note that even when Zuma goes, there is a lot of work required to dismantle his structures and to halt to plundering networks that have permeated all levels of Government.

Statement issued by Ben Theron, OUTA, Chief Operating Officer, 25 May 2017