Lack of consequences for corruption in SA

Not enough is being done to discipline those caught in corrupt activities, says Deputy Public Protector, advocate Kevin Malunga. Addressing the National Anti-Corruption Symposium at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) on Friday, Malunga said the “lack of consequences” for wrongdoers was one of the many reasons for a growth in the culture of “something for nothing”, which had gripped society. “It is a problem that many people consider doing business with the state as the only way of getting the riches, and this opens the gap for the corrupt manipulation of the system,” said Malunga. He felt the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should do more to ensure that corruption-related cases were taken to court and assets corruptly acquired, seized. “Our concern is that we are not seeing corruption-related cases, people being arrested and prosecuted for corruption.”

“It is important that the prosecuting authority and the asset forfeiture unit work together to ensure that any ill-gotten assets are clawed back and the proceeds taken back into the state coffers,” he said. He said greed was one of the causes of corruption, and that it was concerning to note that those who meddled with tender allocations were well-remunerated. “This phenomenon is at times attributed to people who want to live lifestyles that were beyond their means.” Drawing an example from his recent benchmarking exercise at Singapore’s anti-corruption arm, the corrupt practices investigation bureau, Malunga said the East Asian country had made significant inroads in its fight against corruption. “In Singapore, one of their strategies to curb corruption, especially in the public sector is by paying public servants better wages to discourage them from engaging in corrupt activities. I’m not insinuating that better wages would straight away eliminate corruption.”

The symposium was hosted by Umtapo, with the support of the Embassy of Finland and the DUT. Umtapo is a non-profit development organisation established in 1986 with the aim to engage in education, training, community mobilisation, and networking to empower people, particularly youth, to take control of their own lives. Other speakers included Corruption Watch’s executive director, David Lewis, Dr Mpilo Sithole of the Public Service Commission in KwaZulu-Natal and Bongi Mlangeni of the Social Justice Initiative. Delivering the closing remarks, Finland ambassador to South Africa, Petri Solo, said corruption was a cancer-like problem in our society that needed collaborative efforts to root out. “Because of corruption, people exercising power especially public power often tend to forget they are there to serve the people, not their interests,” he said.