Anne-Maria Makhulu, ‘Black Capitalists and the Politics of South African State Capture’

This talk examines a form of corruption that is both systemic and defined by private sector influence over political decision-making. South Africa is not the only country in which the private sector holds such sway over state directives. What is particular to the South African context, however, is also what makes state capture there most especially insidious given rapacious financialization of the very conditions of life: from the monetization of basic utilities; to the efforts at municipal cost recovery for infrastructural projects in poor, black communities; and most centrally, to the politics of procurement that facilitates the provision of utilities, infrastructure and other basic goods and services.

That those who illicitly access state coffers through government contracts for development projects and those radically disadvantaged by such asset stripping are black, in a sense, occludes the processes of re-racialization by capital that is the outcome of state capture. This talk is part of the Thursday Jama series sponsored by the Carolina Seminar in African Ecology and Social Processes. The Thursday Jama is open to all area faculty and graduate students in any discipline. Light refreshments will be served. Please contact Stacey Sewall for more information.