Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Hear this text
Print
E-mail
South Africa could join the league of "most corrupt" if this plan failsWhile South Africa still is nowhere near experiencing the levels of corruption found in countries such as Somalia, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Nigeria, Chad, Iraq or Sudan, its spiralling levels of corruption are nonetheless doing great damage to the country’s reputation and its economy. Indeed, so much so that President Jacob Zuma has felt compelled to finally put his foot down.
Zuma’s decision to ask his Cabinet ministers for proposals to deal with corruption and the ensuing establishment last week of an inter-ministerial committee to formulate new strategies on dealing effectively with the rapidly growing scourge of corruption, is an acknowledgement by the government of the seriousness of the problem.
Not only are the spiralling levels of corruption responsible for the looting of the state’s coffers, but it is also badly affecting private business, while overall the impact on the economy is immense.
That impact can only worsen as South Africa’s reputation for corruption grows, adding to the perceived risk of investing or doing business in South Africa.
Zuma and the ANC promised a hard-line approach to corruption before the April general election. However, since then the government has been rocked by one corruption revelation after another.
The latest in a long list of shocking revelations came last week when the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) tabled its corruption report on the Department of Correctional Services in Parliament, revealing how prison tenders worth more than R1 billion were allocated amid kickbacks and bribes to prison officials, their families and associates.
Close on its heels followed revelations that all is not well, with the use of an official credit card held by Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane. Not only was the card recently overdrawn, but apparently he has also used the card for personal purposes.
Not long before that, the Auditor-General revealed how corrupt civil servants gained from rigged government tenders worth more than R600 million. And earlier this year, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told Parliament how the state was being fleeced with grossly inflated prices in tender contracts. The list goes on and on.
But it will be a long time before one sees just how serious President Zuma really is and whether his new anti-corruption initiative will lead to any concrete action. In the meantime, South Africa runs the risk of joining the ranks of the most corrupt countries on earth as greed is fed by the perception that corruption – particularly involving high-profile people – goes unpunished in South Africa.
The myriad unresolved corruption allegations surrounding South Africa’s multibillion-rand arms deal – in which Zuma himself long stood as a central suspect – is a case in point.
So, too, is the early release from prison of Zuma’s crooked erstwhile financial adviser Schabir Shaik on dubious grounds after spending most of his prison time in the comfort of a hospital. Now talk is rife that he may even be pardoned by Zuma and repaid the millions of tainted money that the state confiscated from him. Again, the list goes on.
While the government paid lip service to stronger action and from time to time announced measures to facilitate whistle-blowing, those who did dare to blow the whistle on their corrupt colleagues, often found themselves being “punished” for their efforts. The latest case in point is Rocco De Lorenzo, the Risk Manager at the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO), who has allegedly been suspended on a charge of "breach of confidentiality" after he supplied information to the police. The police investigation involves tender rigging charges made against the Chief Information Officer, Michael Twum-Darko.
CIPRO’s CEO Keith Sendwe has denied that whistle-blowing had anything to do with the suspension, but will not make known the “real” reasons for De Lorenzo’s suspension. Instead Sendwe has got himself directly involved in the political arena by attacked Democratic Alliance (DA) MP, Andricus van der Westhuizen, for “undermining” and “attacking” the “credibility” of CIPRO by revealing this information.
However, CIPRO has long been a den of corruption, incompetence and chaos with many cases of fraud committed at CIPRO having recently come to light. Many professionals such as lawyers who deal with it on a daily basis consider it to be something of a joke while it should be above reproach as a fundamental service of vital importance to business and the protection of intellectual property rights.
Ironically, Sendwe’s response to fraud and corruption at CIPRO has been to lay on an industrial play for his staff to highlight the consequences of fraud and corruption and “to emphasise the importance of whistle blowing”.
Now the setup of the inter-ministerial committee on corruption finally provides hope of substance to be added to the promise that Zuma made in his State of the Nation speech earlier this year. The committee will investigate and make recommendations allowing for "extraordinary steps" to deal with corruption in the public service which will ensure that all corrupt public servants are prosecuted as swiftly as possible.
The downside of this otherwise positive development, however, is that the decision taken by Cabinet amounts to an acknowledgement by the government that existing anti-corruption measures are failing and that urgent and drastic action is required. Government spokesperson Themba Maseko has gone on record stating that the new comprehensive anti-corruption plan will allow for much more political direction to be given to state law-enforcement agencies in the fight against corruption.
While various risk-rating agencies have in the past referred to South Africa’s crime and corruption levels as a risk factor, the latest Harvard University Index of African Governance released in September showed South Africa had slipped two places to ninth position in Africa. Corruption was singled out as one of the big culprits alongside declining levels of safety and security, political rights and rule of law.
However, at this stage South Africa is still fortunate to be listed 55th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures perceived levels of public sector corruption around the globe. Somalia and Afghanistan topped the most recent blacklist of the world's most corrupt countries.
Italy slipped from 55 to a seedy 63rd on the list. Greece came in at number 71. However, it is in Africa where the rot is worst, with 31 out of 47 sub-Saharan countries achieving scores indicating rampant corruption.
