Thuli Madonsela: 'Political parties can also be captured'

Madonsela previously weighed in on crime and corruption, saying “a lot of it stems from blocked channels of honest access to societal opportunities, resources, benefits and privileges and structurally skewed distribution of burdens”.

All these “conspire to undermine a fair chance for social mobility”.

Madonsela denied the corrupt are “victims of an unequal society”.

She also questioned whether those who have been implicated in state capture are aware they are enemies of democracy. 

“Who will tell those implicated in state capture the truth that seems to elude them, which is that the majority of the people of South Africa, black and white, young and old, do not support them and see them as enemies of our hard-earned democracy?” she asked. 

Madonsela said the government should put laws in place to avoid a “Potemkin constitutional effect”.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the meaning of Potemkin as “an impressive façade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition”.

“Government must prospectively assess all planned laws, policies and social schemes to predict whether they will reduce or worsen inequalities to avoid a Potemkin constitutional effect regarding the promise of social justice and transformative constitutionalism,” Madonsela said.

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