People died in “fairly large numbers” because of State Capture. – Corruption Wat

It is now well-known how Jacob Zuma and his associates destroyed capacity at many state institutions during his nine year tenure as President of South Africa. We get daily reminders as Eskom struggles to keep the lights on and keeps professing a very large begging bowl. Much more sinister, though was the way Zuma ploughed through crime fighting units, replacing competent operators with compliant agents. What has not been clear up to now is that the deterioration of these crime fighting institutions to ensure that Zuma and his minions did not face corruption charges, resulted in “a fairly large number of deaths.” This murderous claim is contained in the joint submission to the Zondo Commission by Corruption Watch and the Institute of Strategic Studies. They say organised crime flourished under Zuma’s presidency as criminal justice agencies were diverted from their primary role and manipulated for political and personal gain. The crippling of these institutions resulted in a surge in car hijackings, cash-in-transit heists and aggravated robbery. - Linda van Tilburg