The Unaccountables: The powerful politicians and corporations who profit from impunity

by Michael Marchant, Mamello Mosiana, Ra'eesa Pather

An urgent and passionately argued call to action, The Unaccountables skilfully profiles the large corporations and private individuals who are all implicated in economic crime but have never been held to account. This book will anger many, who will now be able to put names and faces to those behind some of South Africa’s biggest corruption scandals, from apartheid to state capture.

Crucially, The Unaccountables focuses on 38 profiles detailing evidence of impunity and suggesting actions in each instance that could ensure accountability. Remember, South Africa is a wealthy country. The 2022 Africa Wealth Report estimates total private wealth in South Africa to be over $651 billion, more than R10 trillion. South Africa is home to more than twice as many high-net-worth individuals than any other African country.

These acts of violence, for that is what they are, by powerful individuals and corporations have driven millions into poverty.

In The Unaccountables, we meet them all, apartheid and war profiteers, the state capture profiteers, those who have profited from welfare, we meet the bankers and their banks who got away with laundering and profiteering, the auditors, complicit in economic crimes and, unsurprisingly, the bad cops.

This book is led by research, data and years of investigation and, as such, is the most persuasive book to have been written about corruption in South Africa.

One of the editors, Hennie van Vuuren, is the author of the runaway international bestseller, Apartheid Guns and Money.

470 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably the longest any book has ever taken me, but that's what happens when you have a baby in the middle of reading something hard and serious. This was a fascinating big picture overview of corruption and state capture in modern post-Apartheid South Africa. It highlights the roles of individuals in private sector and government as well as domestic and foreign companies with a major focus on lack of accountability and the mechanisms that enable impunity. It made me angry and hopeful and inspired and fascinated and discouraged. The sheer scale of some of these deals and the prominence of SA and international individuals and firms is mind boggling especially given the amount of data and evidence there is for each case. Admittedly, not being deep in the weeds of SA politics it was often hard to follow the cases and the who's who of legitimate and malicious prosecutions but major kudos for the investigative work that underlies this book.

[Michelle N · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sobering overview of some of the most critical players in South Africa's fall into blatant corruption, unnecessary debt, and the continued arrogance of impunity by those implicated.

An important reminder that without civil action organisations like Open Secrets, OUTA, dedicated journalists and whistleblowers, the South African public would have been left in the dark on these happenings - it is our duty as citizens to support them in their work where we can!