Exploring Political Crime in South Africa

Political crime refers to crimes committed by governments or politicians against the people they are meant to serve.

Corruption refers to dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery or misuse of public funds for personal gain.

The relationship between corruption and the private sector involves instances where businesses engage in corrupt practices, such as bribery, to gain unfair advantages or secure contracts.

Eskom's decision to be the designer and project manager, lack of resources and skills to handle the projects, and departure of skilled staff.

The cost of renewable energy is decreasing while the cost of coal plants is increasing.

Proper maintenance of generators, extensive rooftop solar PV installation, and scaling up renewable energy.

An extensive renewable energy programme with flexibility to complement it.

The State must respect, protect, promote, and fulfill the rights.

The social contract is the agreement that government entities derive their mandate from the Constitution or enabling legislation and must operate in accordance with it.

The agency model of corruption focuses on the decision of public officials to engage in corrupt activities.

The involvement of the ruling party in a transaction that enriches it at the expense of the ordinary citizen violates the social contract.

State crime or crimes by the State to the detriment of its people.

They focus on how inequality and power impact upon and reflect on law-making, law-breaking, victimisation, reactions to crime and social harm.

They should be outlined as cover-ups, disinformation, unaccountability, corruption, violation of a domestic and/or international law, and practices that are perceived as illegal or socially harmful by the majority of the population.

Corruption.

The Minister proposed additional funding support of R59 billion over the next two financial years to help Eskom meet its financial obligations.

Eskom posted a loss of R20,7bn for the 2018/19 financial year.

Corruption and State capture are major reasons for the delay and cost overruns of the Medupi and Kusile coal power plants.

The original estimated cost of Medupi was just under R70bn and the original estimated cost of Kusile was R80bn.

The scale used is from zero to 100, with zero indicating highly corrupt and 100 indicating very clean countries.

Corruption by private companies is usually detected, processed, and punished, whereas corruption by the government or government officials is shrouded in secrecy and masked by means of deceptive manoeuvres.

According to Von Holdt, the current wave of corruption is embedded in the formation of specific classes in society, particularly the new black elitist group gaining prominence in recent years.

They can do damage through actions such as poor service delivery, state capture, nepotism, ineffective leadership, and dishonesty.

The Batho Pele Principles are a set of eight principles developed by the South African government to guide public sector strategies and performance. They include consultation, service standards, access, information, courtesy, openness and transparency, redress, and value for money.

Corporate crime refers to all forms of crimes committed by corporations in their juristic capacity, usually done in the interest of making a profit or benefiting the corporation in some way.

The social contract is an understanding between the population and the government, in which the government guarantees the impartial protection and governance of all its citizens and promises that those in government institutions will act in the best interests of all citizens.