The politics of corruption: from Zuma to Ramaphosa... And after?

The Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP) at Wits will host their first breakfast seminar for 2019.

Professor Karl von Holdt will present the seminar. The prevailing public narrative about corruption tends to present it as a matter of moral failure on the part of a number of individuals (and perhaps an organisation) and legal failure on the part of state institutions. The presentation will attempt to reframe 'corruption' as an important element in processes of class formation in post-apartheid South Africa, and 'looting' as a form of primitive accumulation on the part of a nascent elite. These practices are embedded in moral orders through which they are rendered legitimate and justified in the South African context. The presentation will explore the question whether this constitutes an alternative accumulation model to that presented by globalised 'neoliberalism', and discuss also the necessity for Ramaphosa to establish a stable elite coalition within the ANC, and likewise the challenges that make this an unlikely prospect. Finally, the prospects for an alternative counter-movement for embedded development will be considered.

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