South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Dr Blade Nzimande said on Thursday that while the SACP welcomed the submission of Part 1 of the State Capture Commission report to President Cyril Ramaphosa, it would have liked the entire report to be completed and submitted.

Nzimande was speaking during the SACP’s twenty-seventh annual commemoration of Joe Slovo’s passing held at Avalon Cemetery in Soweto, saying as the first organisation to expose the existence of the phenomenon of State capture in the country and having called for the establishment of a judicial commission to investigate the decay, the SACP will, independently, in its own right, study the complete report of the commission once it is finalised and respond comprehensively. 

“Developing a comprehensive strategy to implement remedial action in view of the recommendations made by the commission will play a key role in tackling State capture and other forms of corruption. This is one key task that must unfold this year, starting within a reasonable time as soon as the commission has completed the entire report. Private corporations, including the multinational corporations from the United States of America, Western Europe, and other private companies that aided or benefitted from State capture as mentioned in the report, must be held to account, including through prosecution,” he said.

Nzimande said there can be no justice and an end to State capture from selective prosecution, there must be consistency. 

He said the success of overcoming State capture will not be achieved by focusing entirely, if not only, on the public sector and leaving “corrupt profit-seeking interests and companies in the private sector to get away with murder”.

He added that to end State capture the entire corrupt nexus of unscrupulous public officials and office bearers and private sector directors, elements and companies must be disrupted and dealt a crushing blow.  

“The struggle against corruption is at the same time the struggle against profiteering and theft by private sector firms and other players in the public sector. This is, at least for us as the SACP, the struggle to put people first, in line with our centenary theme, Put People Before Profit: Socialism is the Future—Build it Now,” Nzimande said.