Civil society organisation Open Secrets campaigner Letlhogonolo Letshele pointed out on Friday that citizens do not know where South Africa stands in the fight against State capture, claiming that there is a lot that is kept hidden from the public.

Letshele was speaking during a Defend Our Democracy webinar, where she noted the importance of civic action in the fight against State capture.

December 3 to 10 marks Anti-Corruption Week, with December 9 being International Anti-Corruption Day.

State capture came to define South Africa’s political and economic arena, as a result, particularly, of the close affiliation between former President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family.

Letshele noted the importance of her organisation’s recently launched Zondo recommendations tracker, which aims to help the public monitor the implementation of the recommendations made during the lengthy public inquiry into State capture chaired by Judge Raymond Zondo.

Open Secrets believes it is important for the public to monitor the various State institutions tasked with implementation of the recommendations.

“Civil society and activists can use the tracker to inform their advocacy, to know which sort of recommendations to push for, to know what’s been happening. Also, most importantly, whistleblowers can also keep up to date with how recommendations have been implemented and to see the kind of information they gain,” Letshele said.

Open Secrets noted the slow progress in the implementation of the Zondo Commission recommendations, with non-profit organisation Corruption Watch highlighting the criticism levelled against law enforcement agencies charged with overseeing criminal investigations and prosecutions of high-profile individuals implicated in State capture.

Corruption Watch pointed out that several cases which had been enrolled under the watch of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had collapsed owing to insufficient evidence and planning, among other reasons.

Meanwhile, Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh said corruption had become more systemic and deep-rooted in society; however, he highlighted a more optimistic view in terms of where South Africa was in its fight against State capture.

He noted improvements within the NPA and the South Africa Revenue Service.

Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution executive director Lawson Naidoo highlighted the importance of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, which he said was collectively formulated by civil society.

Naidoo also stressed that overanalyses of the NPA had a negative impact on effectively combating corruption.

He pointed out that State capture had changed into a more violent challenge, which he said civil society needed to meet.

Naidoo said some of the important initiatives were keeping a spotlight on local government, finding ways to involve the youth, looking at issues of serial corruption, and pushing for better legislation for whistleblowers.

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse CEO Wayne Duvenage emphasised it was up to civil society to put pressure on government in light of all the work that still needed to be carried out.