Bain & Company

Bain & Company is a US-based global management consulting firm that played a central role in the capture and deliberate dismantling of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) between 2015 and 2018. The Zondo Commission found that Bain colluded with former President Jacob Zuma — well before Tom Moyane’s appointment as SARS Commissioner in September 2014 — to execute “a planned and co-ordinated agenda to seize and restructure SARS”. The Nugent Commission described Bain’s appointment as a “foregone conclusion” once Moyane was in office: Bain’s SA Managing Partner Vittorio Massone had met with Zuma in advance, and Jonas Makwakwa (Moyane’s ally, promoted to SARS COO) had already shared confidential SARS documents with Bain representatives before Moyane arrived.

Mechanism and damage: Bain’s restructuring of SARS provided institutional cover for the systematic removal of experienced officials, the disbandment of the High Risk Investigation Unit (falsely labelled a “rogue unit”), and the replacement of independent governance structures with compliant ones. Bain earned contracts worth over R160m from SARS under irregular confinement arrangements — contracts the Nugent Commission found had been manipulated to ensure Bain’s appointment. The institutional destruction that followed created the conditions under which the Gupta Family and other state capture actors exploited SARS’s weakened enforcement to secure illegal tax refunds: Gupta-linked entities received over R400m in irregular refunds during the Moyane era.

Whistleblower: Athol Williams, a long-standing Bain partner and later Cape Town-based academic, was hired in 2018 to oversee Baker McKenzie’s review of Bain’s SARS work and report to the Nugent Commission. During this engagement he uncovered that Bain had understated the full extent of its involvement with Moyane and Zuma. He subsequently testified before the Zondo Commission, revealing the internal mechanics of the capture project and estimating that Bain earned approximately R2bn across all South African public sector contracts — of which only the R217m SARS fees were ever repaid. Williams later left South Africa citing personal danger.

Accountability: After the Nugent Commission findings, Bain repaid R217m (SARS fees plus interest) in December 2018. In 2022, following Zondo Commission findings, the South African National Treasury banned Bain from all government contracts for 10 years (2022–2032). The UK government separately imposed its own contract ban. The Zondo Commission recommended that the United States Department of Justice investigate Bain under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. No US criminal charges have been filed as of April 2026. Bain subsequently wound down its South African client-facing operations: staff fell from 135 (2016 peak) to approximately 87, with 60% redeployed to a global shared-services hub. The ~R1.8bn in public sector fees earned beyond the SARS contract was never recovered.

Connections

• Tom Moyane — pre-arranged appointment; Bain designed SARS restructuring to serve Moyane’s capture agenda
• Jacob Zuma — Vittorio Massone met Zuma before Moyane’s appointment; Zondo: “planned and co-ordinated agenda” designed in advance
• Gupta Family — SARS enforcement disabled by Bain restructuring; created conditions for R400m+ Gupta tax refund irregularities
• Zondo Commission — Vol 1: Bain found to have colluded; Zondo recommended US DOJ FCPA investigation
• National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) — NPA referred for FCPA investigation to US DOJ; no SA criminal charges against Bain as of 2026
• McKinsey & Company — parallel pattern: McKinsey captured Eskom/Transnet via Trillian front; both firms faced government contract bans; McKinsey US settlement Dec 2024
• Eskom — Bain also had advisory contracts with Eskom during state capture era; full extent of public sector exposure ~R2bn per Williams
• Cyril Ramaphosa — established Nugent Commission 2018; endorsed Treasury ban; called on private sector to end Bain and McKinsey appointments

Sources

• Open Secrets: Unaccountable 00021 — Bain and Company, the KGB of Consulting
• Daily Maverick: Bain & Company — the KGB of consulting (2021)
• PPLAAF: How Bain & Company helped capture South Africa’s Revenue Service
• Ecofin Agency: Closure Announced for Bain & Company SA (2023)
• Moneyweb: Bain, Zuma and Moyane colluded to seize and restructure SARS