The State Capture and its Aftermath conference opened with an address by Professor Linda Chisholm, then-Chair of PARI’s board, a note from Executive Director Mbongiseni Buthelezi and a keynote address by Justice Zak Yacoob, ex-Constitutional Court judge. This session opened a 3-day conference featuring 17 panels and roundtables on the aftermath of state capture in various areas of the state and civil society, with an impressive programme of local and international speakers from academia, private sector, government and civil society.
Notes from Zak Yacoob’s keynote address
“It is absolutely dangerous to have a situation in which we you stop at commissions and leave it right there, because then commissions become a way in which you ultimately don’t prosecute people.”
“Our ministers need to be educated on what their Constitutional responsibilities are. … They must understand their responsibilities sufficiently and take collective responsibility for what happens.”
“Most of the members of parliament who got into a new Parliament in 1994, were actually very poor people … and capital moved into the bargain quite quickly. … I think that the private sector must take full responsibility.”
“When people are poor, starving and absolutely miserable, you have got to face the fact that a piece of Kentucky-fried chicken or a bottle of coke buys the vote. … that is not the basis of a strong democracy.”
