OPEN SECRETS ANALYSIS: Unaccountable 00048: The consultants revolving door — BCG welcomes Bain’s boys

Boston Consulting Group benefited as Bain and McKinsey faced consequences for their roles in South Africa’s State Capture scandals. Now, several former members of Bain’s team on the South African Revenue Service project have moved to BCG, prompting questions about what accountability means when people and expertise pass between major consulting firms.

BCG, one of the world’s three largest management consultancies, operates in 50 countries and has a major office in South Africa. Open Secrets previously examined its work with Isabel dos Santos at Sonangol, Angola’s state-owned oil company. BCG was hired to modernise the entity, but the investigation said it benefited from corruption at the company while receiving millions of dollars in fees. Sonangol was left with only $300 in its bank account.

BCG has also established itself as a leading climate consultancy and a key participant in South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. The article argues that its position was strengthened by the collapse of its competitors’ reputations. Bain was barred from South African public-sector contracts and later closed its local operation. McKinsey faced criminal charges over its State Capture role at Transnet before reaching a settlement with US and South African authorities.

The Bain employees now at BCG worked on the SARS project during the period when Bain helped secure state contracts through its relationship with Ambrobrite, a company owned by politically connected figures Mandla KaNozulu and Dumakude Ndlovu. Bain’s work contributed to structural changes at SARS, including the appointment of Tom Moyane as commissioner. The movement of former team members to BCG raises the central question of whether corporate enablers can escape scrutiny when they change employers.

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adequately reviewed the payment structures and contracts… to avoid corruption and other risks