Financialised accumulation and the political economy of state capture

Abstract

Unlike most other assessments of state capture which report on the shocking revelations coming out of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry, this article instead considers the political economy of South African corruption. The author reminds us that South African  corruption is not new, but a product of highly exploitative colonial and later apartheid era accumulation. Ashman attempts to explain why corruption is endemic in postapartheid South Africa and concludes that it emerged out of changes in the leadership of the liberation movement who sought the creation of a black elite or black capitalism.