Diocesan Bishop Bethlehem Nopece
Reverend Zwelidumile Tom
Leadership of the Metro Council Churches
Mr Siya Mtulu, Project Manager Inguqu
Distinguished guests
Fellow South Africans.
Allow me to express my delight at being invited to make contribution on the ongoing discourse and efforts aimed at combating mob ‘injustice’, fraud and corruption in our beloved country. I must express my profound gratitude to the religious sector for having taken the initiative to grapple with the common challenges that we face as a nation as we radically transform our country from the legacy of the past.
I say so because it has become common for people to expect government to do everything and to be armchair critics when their expectations are not met. There is no doubt that the State is indeed expected and must create conducive environment to enable comprehensive transformation of society. However, our fledgling democracy can only grow if all of us, black and white, young and old, put our shoulders on the wheel for the common good of our country.
I have no doubt that spirituality is pivotal towards the resolution of the many challenges that we face. I say so because indeed many of the social behaviours that lead to crime are often inspired by some form of belief, in as much as apartheid itself was inspired by the belief of racial superiority, likewise the struggle against it was without doubt inspired partly by a spiritual belief on the shared values of a humane world.
When the African National Congress (ANC) was launched over a hundred years ago, the protagonists behind the initiative believed that there must be equality across all the races that live in South Africa. This was further attested to by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 adopted at the end of the Second World War and later the Freedom Charter in our country when we declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.
These are the sorts of beliefs that inspired the drafting of our Constitution, with the Bill of Rights being that bedrock of the supreme law of our beautiful country. Even our National Anthem was inspired by Enoch Sontonga’s Christian hymn “Nkosi sikelela I Afrika!”, which was sung at the launch of the ANC in January 1912 together with the hymn “lizalise idinga lakho, thixo we nyaniso!.”
As you will know, our people suffered oppression under colonialism and apartheid which destroyed the natural social evolution of family, community and national value systems that in turn define the kind of society or people that we are. Of course I do not want to revert to the blame it all on apartheid debate, but to point out that the efforts at building a new nation are not easy as naturally social values evolve over decades if not centuries of a nation’s existence.
The key challenge in this regard is to ensure that the values enshrined in the Constitution find resonance in the lived experiences of all our people. In doing so, I will suggest that we need the so called “carrot and a stick” approach, whereby we entice people to do good and be law abiding citizens but at the same time never hesitate to take relevant punitive action when any of them crosses the line.
In this regard, the carrot is to go on a campaign to educate our people about the rights and laws enshrined in our Constitution and other laws of our country and thus enticing them to abide by the laws of the land. We must make it our responsibility to enlighten our people about the benefits of being law abiding citizens. There is an African saying which says “umthi ugotshwa usemanzi”, you can only bend the tree while it is still young and tender, that is before it becomes a fully grown tree ready to be chopped into hardened wood. That does not mean we should forfeit the grown up generation, but this is just to point out that we have greater opportunity to change the mind sets of the youth more so that today’s teenagers for instances never experienced apartheid and therefore are without the baggage of the past.
Let me, at the outset, share our government’s perspective of what is termed mob ‘injustice’ in the context of our constitutional dispensation. Firstly, the concept mob ‘injustice’ is a misnomer because “justice” presupposes rightness and justifiable – in the context used it denotes injustice that is borne by disregard for the justice system orchestrated by self-help means of achieving justice and vigilantism. The right of access to justice is entrenched in the Bill of Rights in Chapter 2 of the Constitution. In particular section 34 guarantees everyone the right to have any dispute that can be resolved by application of the law decided in a fair public hearing before a court, or where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum.
The Constitution provides for a judicial system comprising different hierarchy of the courts in the Republic and provides for national legislation to establish different courts within the constitutional framework. At the Apex of our hierarchal court structure is the Constitutional Court which is followed by the Supreme Court of Appeal and High Courts. Under the High Courts we have the magistracy which operates at the level of Regional Court and District Court, each with distinctive jurisdiction. Under the District Court we have the Traditional Courts which adjudicate over dispute in accordance with Customary Law.
As many of you would have noticed, all these courts are undergoing rigorous transformation which is mandated by the Constitution and this is with a view to establishing a judicial system suited to the requirements of our supreme law. Parallel to the courts national legislation provide a range of forums and tribunals where justice is dispensed. The most common forums and tribunals are the CCMA and Consumer Courts which deal with protect labour and rights of consumers. Any group or gathering that applies self-help measures outside the ambit of the law undermines the Constitution and the rule of law and is punishable under the law.
So there is no iota of doubt that the government is enjoined by the Constitution to fulfill its mandate in protecting the rights of the people from violent attacks as every citizen and any person in South Africa has the right to life and the right to freedom and security of the person, which includes the right not to be tortured or treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way.
We have as the State enacted effective laws and have put in place strong measures to counteract any form of vigilantism as a means of achieving the ends of justice. The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster as a platform of government ensures that the collaborative and joint efforts of the law enforcement agencies are observed and that public trust on the courts and the justice system as a whole is maintained. Through its robust programmes and no-nonsense approach stance, the JCPS cluster lives to its commitment of ensuring that “Everyone in South Africa is and feel safe.”
The belief that people resort to vigilantism and self-help due to the failure of the criminal justice system does not resonate with a constitutional democracy founded on the Supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law. How does the State fail the people because in a constitutional democracy where government is based on the will of the people with independent courts to ensure that that will is given effect to? Participative democracy provide platforms through which people can participate in the governance of the country by expressing their views and ideas.
That is the reason why as the ruling party we facilitated the creation of Community Policing Forums, where there would be partnerships between the Police and the Community in combating crime, particularly violent crime such as rape, assault, house breaking etc. So when there are mishaps or inefficiencies with regards any lawful action that must be taken against any suspected criminal, it is the duty of the community to ensure that the State, with specific reference to the organ of State such as the Police or the Prosecution Authority, is made to account with regards to its role. Similarly Churches provide a useful platform to engage the church community using faith, to denounce crime and corruption but most importantly to ensure that our communities do not become havens of known criminals.
Honoured guests,
The National Development Plan, Vision 2030, which set out the roadmap for the achievement of crime free society, recognises that crime fighting and crime prevention requires an integrated strategy that includes the criminal justice system, local government, private sector, religious sector and community. Therefore Churches have a vital role towards ensuring that safety and security is a reality for all South Africans.
The authority of our democratic State will be enhanced by repeated sermons and religious messages that denounce criminality in all its manifestations, by preaching the rule of law over vigilantism and unlawful self-help, respect for the rights of others, refrain from rape, sexual offences and other form of gender violence and civic duty and responsibility. As we do that, we would be helping to dispel the culture of violence and crime while replacing that with the new culture as it should be, where society respects authority and the human rights for all.
Congregants,
Allow me now to briefly reflect on Fraud and Corruption, which I will tackle together as they are connected.
According to the World Bank, corruption is defined as “behaviour on the part of officials in the public and private sectors, in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves and/or those close to them, or induce others to do so, by misusing the position in which they are placed.”
In this sense, corruption therefore is like cancer that disables the efficacy of our institutional programmes to realise our goals, and hence we must all fight it to ensure we achieve a corruption free environment. Corruption is contagious, often the case it requires at least two to tango. As others observe those involved in corruption to be living large with impunity, that in itself attracts them into this contagious social disease, and these are the factors that fuel the perpetration of corruption. Nipping corruption in the bud must mean confronting these very same challenges by ensuring that any unlawful gain is forfeited to the State.
Experiences show that corruption in government thrives on the basis of departmental relationships or connections with the private sector, hence I say it takes two to tango with regards to the commission of corruption in the public sector. Mainly, this is when government work is outsourced through tendering, that corruption comes into play. In as much as we could say that some government officials corrupt their business counterparts in such tendering processes, the same could be said of how business people corrupt their counterparts in government in the same manner.
This also involves NGO’s such as those that are Non Profit Organisations, on how funds consequently get embezzled through corrupt liaison with donors. Corruption can therefore be seen as some tango between those at the coalface of government –private sector tendering as well as the disbursement of donor funds. Of course businesses also do outsource in their own right services that are not their primary business concern such as cleaning, security, transport and all sorts of business production and services and in such instances corruption also do manifests itself.
As we tackled the issues of fraud and corruption, we have come to appreciate the fact that criminals employ some of the most sophisticated methods of committing crime. Beyond this, they make use of some of the intriguing methods to hide or disguise their assets, which in fact are the proceeds of crime. We also noted that the introduction of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) has proven to be one of the most effective legal instruments to combat especially organised crime.
The achievements of the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) prove without doubt that economic crimes can be successfully fought within the Rule of Law. As we have said it before, for the first time in the history of this country, the so called “top dogs” of crime are made to face justice and give account of their assets. Some of the strides that we have already made reports on include the following successes:
- The Gems case where the AFU achieved a settlement that involved over R60 million in excess interest charges being paid back to over 30 000 workers by a micro lender.
- The freezing of an estimated R1.5 billion of alleged proceeds of crime in the David King matter.
- The Delport case, in which the AFU obtained a freezing and seizure order of R80 million and to date this is the largest value of assets ever seized in a single case within South Africa.
- The Boekhoud case where the AFU seized assets worth about R100 million, including a platinum refinery in the United Kingdom.
- In two of its most important matters to date, the AFU has also seized property worth more than R10 million from Cape Town attorneys Mohammed and Chohan who had allegedly defrauded the RAF and impoverished accident victims of their money.
In the past 10 years, working with its partners, the AFU has made a significant impact on crime and there has been a constant increase in the number and value of cases prosecuted successfully. Often the perception is that government is doing nothing to combat fraud and corruption and
Other significant milestones attained through the concerted effort of the JCPS cluster to eradicate fraud and corruption include the following:
- assets to the value of more than R3.35 billion in more than 1 700 cases were frozen
- assets to the value of more than R950 million in more than 1 400 cases have been forfeited
- more than R230 million has been deposited into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account, of which more than R400 million have been diverted to victims of crime
- a success rate of over 85% conviction in all cases has been maintained
- clarity of the law has been sought and obtained by obtaining 243 judgments, including 6 judgments in the Constitutional Court and 23 in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The following constitutional and state organs play an important role in combating corruption and strengthening the accountability of government:
- Office of the Auditor-General
- Chapter 9 Institutions in particular the Public Protector
- Public Service Commission (PSC)
- Special Investigating Unit
- Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation
- Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
As I have said, corruption is cancerous and eats away the fruit of our hard earned democracy for which many have laid down the lives. It is important that the religious sector and church groupings form formidable partnership with Government and other organs of state which are entrusted with the function relating to fraud and corruption so as to forge a united front against this scourge.
In this way we will build a resilient anti-corruption system which the National Development Plan postulates. A resilient anti-corruption system where whistle blowers who report corruption are adequately protected; the private sector does not engage in corrupt practices; citizens resist the temptation to bribe officials; and the media fulfils its investigative function to expose corruption in the public and private sector.
Distinguished guests,
Some will recall that last year we participated on a civil sector initiative on combating fraud and corruption, with COSATU taking leading role when Corruption Watch was launched at the Constitution Hill. This is because as government we believe that as the Community is everywhere, it must be the eye and ear on matters of crime including fraud, corruption and mob violence.
As I have pointed out earlier, government is putting all stops to reinforce the authority of the state in its endeavour to fight crime and corruption. Vigilantism is a form of usurping State power. No government can allow this to happen whilst still trying to maintain the rule of law. Accordingly the state will do its part to assert its authority, enforce its laws effectively and efficiently and administer effective policing to protect its citizenry. Through the criminal justice system, we as government will prosecute and convict perpetrators. We must therefore instil the perception that our country is the most violent in the universe, second to hell, when in fact this government has tirelessly worked hard to transform our country from the legacy of the past to a brighter future as highlighted by our Constitution.
I am amongst the first to admit that “isende lendlela”, as some would say Rome was not built in a day. This I say not to encourage complacency or to suggest that the challenges we face are insurmountable. Contrary to that, I believe that working together we can accelerate the transformation of this country such that doomsayers can in contrast to their pessimism afterwards declare a miracle, as they did when we brought about a peaceful political transition in 1994.
I will dispute the belief that past generations were better than yourselves, because amongst you there are men and women, young and old, ready to take Mandela’s struggle baton to greater heights! Those who sulk in nostalgia about the good old struggle days when the churches, NGO’s, student movements, political organisations and trade unions, amongst others, were in the forefront must know that there is nothing stopping them to actively participate and lead in the reconstruction and development of our country.
Instead of condemning our youth, we must encourage and nurture them as they are bound to inherit the world which ourselves have inherited from those before us. The quality of the future they will build start with the values that they espouse today, which you as the Church impart on them. As King Solomon says in the Book of the Proverbs, bring up a child in the way that shall be his or hers, and when he or she is old will not depart from it! Growing up, we had the story of the mother parent crab who demands that its baby crab walk straight to no avail, until the baby crab enquired from the parent to demonstrate through practical example and the lesson ended in failure because an exemplary role could not be offered. Our children must not learn crime, mob ‘injustice’, fraud or corruption from us!
As the Church, we have a duty to ensure that beyond the church membership, we instil a sense of responsible adulthood in all our communities. Without converting everybody to the ANC, or in your case to the Christian faith, working together we must demand that society at large do not do crime, mob injustice, fraud or corruption. Together in our various ways as politicians and as religious leaders, we must provide leadership to society. That is why after asking questions, we must also strive to give practical solutions.
As I have said in my introduction, I do believe that spirituality has a place in our transformation agenda as both good and bad deeds are inspired by some form of belief. And I can attest it without any fear of contradiction, that the Christian faith has not only historically impacted on our landscape on either sides of the political spectrums, but also that it remains an important and indispensable avenue to inspire the development of our country.
With these few words, allow me to thank you once more for this very kind invite.
Working together we can do more!
God Bless Africa!
God bless South Africa!
God bless the Church!
I thank you!
