Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
- Chief Justice Raymond Zondo says the millions lost from state capture could have benefited the poor.
- He was heading to an anti-corruption summit on Friday.
- He lamented the collapse of state-owned companies, including Denel, Prasa and Transnet.
Money lost to corruption could have benefited the poor by providing infrastructure and creating jobs, says Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Speaking at an anti-corruption summit on Friday, Zondo lamented the impact of state capture and the collapse of state-owned companies such as Prasa, SAA and Denel.
He said it cost SA millions and severely deprived the poor of a decent livelihood.
Prasa’s mismanagement, payments to phantom employees and a failure to investigate corruption allegations were some of the factors that led to its collapse, he said.
“Prasa is a very important state entity that was established to provide essential transportation to the people of SA, particularly the poor. But Prasa has not been able to provide a safe and reliable transportation service to the poor people in our country, and corruption , mismanagement and incompetence have a lot to do with that inability,” he said.
Zondo said the Hawks and the parliamentary holding committee on transport failed to investigate or prevent the rot at the rail agency, despite board members opening criminal cases.
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“The Prasa board, concerned about corruption, took files to the Hawks, filed criminal complaints and asked the Hawks to investigate the corruption that occurred in 2015/16. To date, the Hawks have not completed their investigation,” Zondo said.
Corruption at SAA, Zondo said, could have been prevented if the government had acted sooner to prevent widespread corruption at the airline.
“We know how the corruption in SAA has affected the people of South Africa. What happened in SAA is not something that happened overnight. It happened over a long period.
“It’s as if the people who were supposed to keep an eye on whether SAA was working were asleep or on some other project and not bothered by its decline, year after year,” Zondo said.
He said the poor, who depend on public facilities, bore the brunt of the lingering effects of corruption.
Zondo said:
The money lost due to corruption is money that could have been used to build schools, clinics, hospitals, roads, bridges and, in general, to ensure the development of our communities. Money stolen through corruption is money that could have been used to pay reasonable salaries to nurses, doctors and others in public service.
Zondo praised the whistleblowers who resisted state capture. He asked for his protection to ensure that SA recovers from state capture.
