Johannesburg: AfricUpdate – News Desk
In his weekly newsletter, President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for a whole of society approach to tackle both public and private sector corruption with equal energy and build a society where corruption “cannot take root.” This as the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC) handed over its final report of a three-year term to the President.
“The work of NACAC makes it clear that the fight against corruption is complex, multi-faceted and protracted. This fight requires dismantling systems of patronage that have become entrenched over many years. It requires strengthening state capacity to handle complex cases and closing regulatory loopholes that have enabled corruption to flourish. We need to tackle public and private sector corruption with equal energy. Tax evasion, market manipulation, inflated contracts and tender collusion by businesses significantly harm our economy yet often receive less attention than corruption in public institutions,” the President said. Turning to NACAC’s report, President Ramaphosa highlighted that the council recommended the establishment of a “permanent, independent, overarching anti-corruption body.”
“The council recommends that this body be known as the Office of Public Integrity and Anti-Corruption and that its mandate be to prevent, investigate and remedy systemic corruption. The proposed body, which responds to one of the key recommendations of the State Capture Commission, would be expected to both fight corruption and prevent it from happening in the first place. The NACAC report also makes recommendations on the strengthening and coordination of law enforcement agencies, enhanced coordination mechanisms among the different law enforcement agencies, the use of Artificial Intelligence to prevent corruption and the establishment of an anti-corruption data sharing framework,” President Ramaphosa said.
He assured South Africans that the recommendations will be “thoroughly reviewed by the relevant government institutions for tabling and deliberation in Cabinet.” President Ramaphosa acknowledged that South Africans are eager to see wrongdoers brought to book.
“Amid daily reports of alleged corruption, South Africans want to see action. They want to see more arrests and convictions. We should therefore welcome the progress being made by our law enforcement agencies. Last week the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks, and the Special Investigating Unit briefed Parliament on investigations into the South African Post Office, Postbank and the South African Social Security Agency, financial irregularities at water entities, an allegedly corrupt fuel tender, and graft at a number of municipalities. This year has seen a number of arrests linked to alleged corruption in Eskom, the South African Police Service, Transnet and in municipalities. While allegations of corruption within these important institutions are deeply disturbing, it is encouraging that they have been detected and that criminal action is being taken,” he said.
On the international front, South Africa’s progress in fighting corruption has also been noted. In July this year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Group on Bribery noted that South Africa continues to make progress in detecting and investigating foreign bribery cases, and that ‘the resilience and commitment of individual government and law-enforcement officials, working in a multi-agency approach, has contributed to this progress.’ We continue to make progress towards the removal of our country from the Financial Action Task Force grey-list. In June, FATF noted that South Africa has completed all 22 action plan items to combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism. Exiting the grey-list is part of the fight against corruption and key to safeguarding the integrity of our financial system,” he said.
The President further acknowledged that there is a “justifiable public expectation” for more convictions. However, he added, the fight against the scourge of corruption extends “way beyond putting culprits in the dock” and requires the pursuance of institutional reforms to “address the shortcomings in practices and systems that have enabled corruption to flourish.”
“Corruption is much more than the result of the criminal intent of a few individuals be they government officials, elected publish representatives or business people. It can become embedded in state institutions or business enterprises and manifest itself in practices and organisational culture. The success of our efforts relies on our ability to prevent corruption in the first place in state institutions, business enterprises or organs of civil society. That is why we need to build transparent, accountable and ethical institutions – both public and private – in which corruption is unable to take root. We all need to work together to build a society characterised by responsibility and integrity.” President Ramaphosa concluded.
