The Civil Society Working Group on State Capture – a coalition of over twenty civil society organisations – is organising a People’s Hearing on State Capture scheduled to take place in Johannesburg on 12 October 2019.
The Civil Society Working Group recognises that the Zondo Commission on State Capture in South Africa is making an important contribution in examining evidence of state capture. However, more recently, many of powerful individuals who are implicated in orchestrating state capture – and their courtroom antics – have dominated news headlines. What is forgotten by some is the extent of misery caused by the actions of these individuals. The Civil Society Working Group therefore believes that we must also focus on the impact of state capture on the lives of the people who carry the burden of these crimes.
The People’s Hearing on State Capture is intended to collect and provide evidence of the impact of state capture and corruption to the country’s law enforcement agencies and to the Zondo Commission. The deepening levels of inequality, poverty and unemployment caused by contemporary state capture should be foremost in their minds when investigating and prosecuting the crimes of powerful politicians, private individuals and corporations. However, the fight against corruption and the rebuilding of our institutions, cannot only be left to law enforcement agencies and the justice system. The people of South Africa should also play their part in holding those in power to account.
We call on all South Africans to contribute to the Peoples Hearing on State Capture by posting videos, pictures and messages on their social media platforms under the hashtag – #DearJudgeZondo – about the impact of state capture on their lives, and in their communities, and what they feel needs to be done to address this. These videos will be presented together with documentary evidence, film and activists’ testimonies reflecting on the impact of state capture at 10.00am on 12 October 2019 at the Women’s Jail Atrium, Constitutional Hill, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
The People’s Hearing will be open to the public, with limited seating available. The heads of various government anti-corruption agencies, the NPA and the leadership of the Zondo Commission have also been invited to ‘listen’ at the day’s events.
The People’s Hearing on State Capture will be chaired by a panel comprised of Nomboniso Gasa, Yasmin Sooka and Nonhle Mbuthuma who are tasked with receiving information brought forward by the public throughout the day and submitting this to the Zondo Commission.
Please RSVP to rsvp@opensecrets.org.za by Thursday 10th October 2019.
For Comment Please contact:
Zen Mathe (Open Secrets)
0833818692 (cell) 0214472701
zmathe@opensecrets.org.za
Thami Nkosi (Right2Know Campaign)
0626245992
thami@r2k.org.za
About the panel members:
Ms Yasmin Sooka is a leading transitional justice expert, a former member of the South African & the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and was a legal advisor to Ban Ki-moon on the UN Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka. She was a member of the UCT Institutional Reconciliation and Transformation Commission (IRTC). She served as a member of the Secretary General’s Panel investigating sexual violence by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic. She currently chairs the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. She was the former Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa.
Nomboniso Gasa is Adjunct Professor at School of Public Law at University of Cape. She is Senior Research Associate at UCT. Her work focussed on Land, Politics, Gender and Cultural issues. Prof. Gasa has a long history in political and women’s rights activism extending before the dawn of democracy in South Africa. She has published widely, in newspapers & academic journals.
Nonhle Mbuthuma is a human rights defender working for indigenous peoples’ rights, land rights, and environmental rights in the Xolobeni region of the Eastern Cape. She was a community leader before founding the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) in 2007 where she is now the Spokesperson and a member of the Executive Committee. The organisation works both with and on behalf of the Amadiba community for sustainable development in the Xolobeni region. This organisation has and continues to challenge non-community- approved mining projects by multinational corporations.
About the Civil Society Working Group on State Capture: A coalition of over twenty civil society organisations which include: Open Secrets, Section27 (S27), Right2Know (R2K), MyVoteCounts (MVC), Corruption Watch (CW), #UniteBehind, Equal Education (EE), Dullah Omar Institute (DOI)
