COMMENT
“State capture” is a euphemism to describe a situation in which the narratives, the direction and the value system of a society, including patterns of accumulation, are under the control of an elite group. A World Bank discussion document defines it as the “efforts of a small number of firms (or such groups as the military, ethnic groups and kleptocratic politicians) to shape the rules of the game to their advantage through illicit, non-transparent provision of private gains to public officials”.
The ANC’s policy of black economic empowerment (BEE) under former president Thabo Mbeki was carried out in a way that sought to exert control on the state, its value system and its grand narratives.
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