Nicky Prins on LinkedIn: EDITORIAL | Democracy or kleptocracy? The coalition choice is clear |… (2024)

It is quite a feat for an independent judicial system in a country to stand up to the power of politicians, especially to investigate and bring charges against an ex-prime minister or president for corruption. Even when out of power, their networks and influence can reach deep in the state and be very threatening. Yet this case has seen Not least Malta's civil courts, criminal courts and Attorney General all involved, and it of course benefitted from the brilliant work by journalist Daphne Caruana Galicia - who worked at great risk and was assassinated - and also the international journalists who continued where she left off. To have the capacity, independency and sheer bravery amongst all those players to carry this through is laudable and needs to be recognised. South Africa is still rebuilding its judicial system after the #StateCapture period of the Zuma administration, and he is yet to stand trial for allegations of corruption reaching back 20 years, nevermind to account for anything that happened under his rule.

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Are there any other countries facing elections this year who have had better luck with getting the big social media companies to explain how they are working to tackle disinformation?https://lnkd.in/djn35WUy

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Fantastic speech! Money laundering through the UK was a key enabler of #StateCapture in South Africa during the Zuma Administration. Certain banks and company formation agents played a key role in establishing shell companies, masking the origins of companies intent on scamming our state-owned entities and hiding their ill-gotten gains offshore.

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Whilst working on the experiences of countries that have battled with #StateCapture, I came to appreciate the critical role played by South Africa's independent judiciary (certainly in the higher courts) during the Zuma administration. Oppositions parties, civil society organisations and other activists could use the courts to fight against unjustified appointments or dismissals, for example, which would strike a blow each time to the forces who were busy infiltrating the leadership of public institutions. The other value of the cases is that they help expose to the public the dirty details of what was taking place. The reason for this independence? Key amongst this is the way higher court judges are appointed, which involves multiple different players, thus ensuring the ruling party's role is kept to a minimum. It may have some imperfections, but the independence aspect is fiercely guarded. In countries where #StateCapture is underway, the Executive will try to get control over the Judiciary, starting with the appointments process. In Poland under the Law and Justice part (PiS) administration, judges fought bitterly against this - even taking to the road in minibuses in 2021 to educate citizens across the country about what was taking place. Their real victory came in October 2023 when an opposition party coalition managed to pull enough support in the country together to get into power. Their job now is to try to undo some of the damage done - to Poland's judiciary and other institutions. Hopefully the political tide will remain with them.

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Dubai played a key role in South Africa's State Capture saga, being used as a destination for secret meetings, money flows and a place to hide from South African law enforcement. Exposés such are key in the fight against #StateCapture and Corruption.

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I second this! Congrats Duncan!

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