Key Points:
- Corruption in South Africa remains an issue because government has been very selective and partial in its condemnation of corrupt acts involving officials and politicians, and this gives the perception that it lacks the political will to expose and combat corruption.
- For example, the government failed to condemn Mpumalanga Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu for reappointing Steve Mabona as safety and security MEC in 1999, after the latter had been forced to resign for his part in issuing a fraudulent driver’s licence to the deputy speaker of parliament, Baleka Kgositsile.
- In a debate organised by CDE, speakers provided inputs on whether the government’s approach to corruption in South Africa is good enough. A few key suggestions were made.
- Government should: publicly name and shame big corrupt actors; have a strategy to combat corruption, which involves analysing corruption as a function of corrupt systems rather than just corrupt individuals; and work with bureaucrats to define organisational objectives and ways to measure success, and then link compensation to the achievement of result.
Photo credit: Max Pixel
