Today is International Anti-Corruption Day, and South Africa is once again taking stock of a troubling landscape.

In recent years, the Zondo commission, whistleblowers, journalists and civil society have exposed the mechanics of modern state capture and corruption. That chapter has transformed the public’s understanding of corruption – but the unfolding Madlanga commission is revealing an even more unsettling layer, suggesting that criminal networks have penetrated the very institutions meant to defend the rule of law.

Testimony before the inquiry points not only to rogue individuals, but to co-ordinated interference stretching across policing, intelligence and prosecutorial structures.

This illustrates how corruption continues to shape the country’s problems, and accountability is agonisingly slow. And yet, moments of progress do emerge.

In July, management consulting firm Bain & Company announced it would be shutting down its South African consulting operations. The firm confirmed first to the Financial Times and later News24 that it was closing down all local consulting work, retaining only a Joburg support hub for its global business.

Bain’s era as a major player in the South African market has, for now, come to an end. This is a rare but meaningful victory in a country still reeling from the damage of the state capture era.

The gutting of Sars

The Zondo commission found Bain was instrumental in dismantling the South African Revenue Service (Sars), once one of the most efficient tax administrations in Africa. This cost the country billions in lost revenue, a blow that rippled through the economy.

The consultancy had long been accused of putting commercial gain ahead of ethical conduct, embedding itself in political networks that hollowed out Sars. Open Secrets has continuously worked to uncover the role of corporations in state capture and corruption. Since 2021, we have charted how the firm helped destabilise the country, mapping the constellation of politicians, fixers and corporate insiders who made it possible.

Known since the 1980s as the “KGB of consulting” for its secretive operations, Bain quietly positioned itself inside Sars in 2013 through Ambrobrite, a company linked to politically-connected elites close to former president Jacob Zuma. This secured Bain privileged access to lucrative state contracts and early intelligence about institutional changes.

The firm orchestrated sweeping structural changes at Sars, spearheaded by Vittorio Massone, at the time head of Bain South Africa, while playing a role in the appointment of Tom Moyane as Sars commissioner. The Zondo commission later found these changes to be part of a co-ordinated effort to “systematically and deliberately dismantle” the agency.

By the time Moyane was dismissed in 2019, the damage was huge: Sars was unable to meet its revenue targets. Shortfalls ballooned, from R7.3bn in 2014/15 to R30bn by 2016/17, triggering South Africa’s first VAT hike since democracy. Households bore the brunt as social spending fell, service delivery deteriorated and debt soared, with nearly one in every five rand now spent on debt repayments.

This was not just institutional failure; it was a national setback engineered by a network of political actors and corporate insiders, including Zuma, Moyane, Massone and senior Sars officials.

Selling a dream

While Bain eventually repaid R200m in fees – an amount dwarfed by the economic harm it inflicted – the firm refused to accept meaningful responsibility. Its public apology was carefully crafted, portraying it as an unwitting pawn in a political game, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This reflects a familiar pattern in the consulting world: immense influence without accountability, profits without consequences, and apologies without ownership.

But Bain was one of several management consultancies that played a key role in enabling state capture and corruption, weakening key state institutions.

Management consulting has become an all-pervasive force, embedded in almost every corner of government and business. The industry’s rise has been tied to corruption and misconduct, from helping burnish the images of authoritarian governments, to fuelling the US opioid crisis and enabling grand corruption across the globe.

These controversies point to a deeper, structural problem: an industry shrouded in secrecy, operating with enormous influence but almost no accountability.

As Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington argue in The Big Con, consultants have mastered a confidence game: selling the illusion of expertise for sky-high fees that far exceed what they actually deliver. Their influence has only grown as states, weakened by austerity and neoliberal reforms, outsource core functions to private consultants.

What emerges is a picture of an industry that is omnipresent, unaccountable, and central to the global architecture of economic crime. In that context, confronting the power of management consultancies is not just a matter of reform, it is a democratic imperative.

Not backing down

It has been a story of two steps forward and one step back in terms of holding Bain accountable. Bain was banned from public contracts, first in the UK, and then in South Africa in August 2022, but the UK prematurely lifted its ban in March 2023, less than eight months after it was enacted. The US, which has a duty to act on allegations of malfeasance by US corporations, did nothing. The chance of it doing so now has surely vanished as Donald Trump’s administration guts its anti-corruption laws.

Nonetheless, South Africa’s Treasury has not backed down after banning Bain from doing business with the state for 10 years. This has now paid off: while Bain did not give reasons for closing its South African operation, the ban on public contracts and associated reputational harm were no doubt key reasons.

South Africa can stand affirmed in the fact that accountability is possible. The sustained public outcry and, eventually, the corrective action by the state, ran Bain out of town. It sent a clear message that South Africa and its people should not be a playground for international corporations to profit from corruption.

But as the global cost-of-living crisis deepens and public outrage over economic crimes mounts, a sharper question is coming into focus: who truly pulls the levers of power?

Increasingly, the trail leads not to elected officials but to private actors operating in the shadows – chief among them, management consultancies. These firms sit at the most influential decision-making tables, shaping public policy and corporate strategy while evading meaningful scrutiny. Their rise has come to symbolise the quiet capture of the state by private interests, enriching consultants while leaving hollowed-out institutions.

Bain’s role in gutting Sars remains a devastating chapter, standing as a warning of what happens when private power infiltrates public institutions behind closed doors. It illustrates why the fight for transparency and justice remains more urgent than ever.

South Africa is entering yet another Anti-Corruption Day with a dual reality: a nation exhausted by the weight of impunity, yet still capable of pushing back – one scandal exposed, one institution rebuilt, and one hard-won accountability milestone at a time.

Zen Mathe is an investigator at Open Secrets. Michael Marchant is head of investigations at the nonprofit.