against corruption
27 March 2007
Madam Speaker,
The South African Government together with the African Union Commission and
the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa hosted the first ever Africa
Forum on Fighting Corruption in Gauteng earlier this month. This gathering
brought together some 450 delegates representing governments, multilateral
organisations as well as structures of civil society from across the African
continent to consider Africa's challenge in confronting corruption under the
theme, "Towards a Common Understanding of Corruption."
Corruption is a direct impediment to Africa's development. It takes away
resources from priority areas such as health, social development and education
and overstretches the capacities of the African States that could have been
employed in other areas. It also hampers the continent's efforts to instil
sound political, socio-economic and corporate governance - as articulated in
the instruments of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
The Africa Forum gave us an opportunity to share perceptions and experiences
of corruption, strategies and best practices as well as to deliberate on how we
can work together to create effective structures, policies and programmes to
counter corruption. We considered why so many, both on the Continent and in the
industrialised countries of the North, perceive corruption to be endemic in
Africa, and as an almost uniquely African and developing country
phenomenon.
The Africa Forum adopted the Ekurhuleni Declaration as a lodestar in the
ongoing fight against corruption. The Declaration addresses issues such as the
definition of corruption, encompassing a broader understanding of the concept.
It highlights how corruption is an impediment to development and undermines the
democratic process and ethos. It urges African leaders to stand up in the fight
against corruption, to mobilise society on the basis of communal values as
epitomised by the precepts of Ubuntu.
The Ekurhuleni Declaration contains a Plan of Action charting the way
forward for Africa and providing guidance on an integrated approach to tackling
corruption. Through this historic gathering the African continent has signalled
its commitment to stem the tide of corruption and to ensure that the African
people can reap the rewards of economic growth, poverty eradication and the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. There are a few key aspects of
the discourse on corruption and elements of the fight against corruption that I
wish to draw to the attention of the House.
Definition
Firstly, the Africa Forum agreed on a broader interpretation of the concept
of corruption. Taking its cue from the African Development Bank, the Ekurhuleni
Declaration defines corruption as including theft, fraud, bribery, extortion,
nepotism, patronage and the laundering of illicit proceeds. This marks a
significant departure from the traditional narrow and restricted definition,
which focuses the gaze of attention on the recipient of the bribe in cases
where there is abuse and misuse of public power and public resources for
private benefit.
We have now agreed that corruption occurs in both the public and private
spheres of society and that organs of civil society are also susceptible to
acts of corruption. There is a supply side and a demand side to corruption.
There is a corrupter and the corrupted. That corruption is largely seen as a
public sector vice is due in part to the use of tools such as the Corruption
Perception Index (CPI) as a measure of corruption - this index pioneered by
Transparency International surveys the opinions of the private sector on public
sector corruption in developing countries. It is based primarily on perceptions
of business on whether they have to or may have in the future to pay bribes to
the public sector in different countries.
Not only does it not focus on whether companies have actually been asked to
pay bribes or have paid bribes, it focuses only on the takers of bribes and
imputes no culpability to the payers of bribes. The recently released Report on
Corruption in the private sector in South Africa commissioned by the National
Anti-Corruption Forum highlights the significant incidence of bribery and
corruption in the private sector. It also highlights the low level of awareness
of business of the statutory requirements to report corruption to the police
(79% of companies unaware).
The Africa Forum called for standardised methodologies to measure
corruption, and for baseline studies to be undertaken so that the effectiveness
of policy interventions can be assessed over time. The Africa Forum achieved
its goal of developing a common understanding of corruption based on our shared
experiences on the Continent of colonialism, underdevelopment, globalisation
and authoritarian states. These scenarios have over time, provided the backdrop
to acts of corruption, wealth stripping and wanton looting of national
resources.
This broader definition of corruption requires that new and more
comprehensive measures be implemented to counter corruption - it demands that
it is not just the developing countries that need to take action, that
international and cross-border co-operation is vital in halting the tide of
unscrupulous behaviour.
The Africa Forum agreed on the kind of measures that need to be implemented
on the Continent - it is now up to us to pressure the developed countries to
co-operate with us in prosecuting acts of corruption when committed by their
nationals, whether natural or legal entities.
National Integrity System
The Africa Forum considered the centrality of a national integrity system in
the bid to combat corruption and stressed that it must be premised on a sound
value system that draws upon traditional communal, egalitarian and democratic
principles. These national values should permeate the structures of the State
and civil society with the principles and practices prevalent in a vibrant
democracy, including transparency, freedom of speech, access to information,
free and fair elections, and a strong judicial system and holding the executive
to account.
Our values have been distorted and corroded by colonialism and apartheid.
The onus on the leadership echelon in African society - in all sectors, not
just political leaders is to resuscitate our traditional value systems based on
the concepts of Ubuntu and Ujamaa and marginalise the trend towards possessive
individualism, spawned by market fundamentalism, in which the scramble for
material possessions takes precedence over the collective good.
It is opportune that today Parliament launches its new emblem with 'the
people' as its base and with a commitment to an open and inclusive society. The
new emblem combines the traditional forms of societal engagement, of people
working together, as depicted by the drum with the modern principles of
democracy as enunciated in our Constitution. Our commitment is to a people
centred society where justice shall prevail. It is these very values that must
inform our approach to combating corruption.
The structural component of the national integrity system is based on a set
of institutions that provide checks and balances in the execution of state
power, as well as law enforcement bodies and organs of civil society.
Addressing this House, I must emphasise that this institution, Parliament, lies
at the centre of these structures. It is the primary institution that exercises
oversight over the government. Other bodies that monitor government often
report to Parliament, and funding for other state bodies and law enforcement
agencies are approved by the legislature.
Parliament has a duty to ensure that there is clean, effective and
accountable government. Parliament has implemented a Register of Members'
Interests and promulgated the Executive Members Ethics Act which codes of
conduct encompass conflict of interest rules. Other organs of state that
contribute to an integrity system include the judiciary, the Auditor General,
the Public Protector, Customs and Revenue Services, the Financial Intelligence
Centre, the Directorate for Special Operations (the Scorpions) and the Asset
Forfeiture Unit. Codes of conduct for members of the public service should also
govern the levels of service and probity expected from them.
The Forum paid due attention to the issue of training and capacity building
of personnel and institutions to intensify the fight against corruption. The
Forum acknowledged and welcomed the role that civil society plays in the fight
against corruption and advocated the creation of national compacts between
governments, business, the media and civil society to strengthen that campaign.
Civil society organs have a crucial role in developing public awareness of
corruption and its implications.
A note of caution was sounded that organs of civil society are not immune to
corruption themselves and do not always measure up to the standards of probity
and openness that they demand of others. We must be vigilant towards corruption
in all its manifestations. It was agreed that the media has a responsibility
not just to investigate and expose corruption when it occurs, but also to
inform and educate the public about corruption generally so as to generally
increase awareness about this malady in our midst.
A properly structured integrity system provides a comprehensive backbone to
a democratic system of governance. It knits the various checks and balances
into an effective tool against corruption. A national integrity system
therefore provides both the institutional and philosophical basis for both
enforcement and preventive action against corruption.
The Africa Forum and the Ekurhuleni Declaration acknowledged the steps taken
by African states in regional organisations and the African Union (AU) to
promulgate and implement instruments designed to tackle corruption, but
conceded that greater harmonisation of legislation and actions was required to
ensure that these noble instruments become effective. Concern was expressed
about the costs of ratifying and implementing the United Nations (UN)
Convention against Corruption, the African Union Convention on Preventing and
Combating Corruption and the regional Protocols that are in place.
It was emphasised that greater co-operation in the spheres of money
laundering, cross-border crimes and asset forfeiture was particularly required.
The Ekurhuleni Declaration speaks to the need to strengthen African states to
deal with the scourge of corruption and the Forum generally noted the desire
for strong, capable states to meet the needs and aspirations of the African
people.
The Africa Forum stressed the importance of putting in place anti-corruption
strategies that consist of a myriad of tools to fight corruption. The
strategies must include prevention, education and awareness, enhancement of
capacity of the law enforcement agencies and other institutions fighting
corruption.
Having forged a consensus on the shape of the fight against corruption we
now look forward to the Global Forum V meeting in Johannesburg from 2 to 5
April this year. South Africa is proud to host this important gathering for the
first time on African soil. The theme for Global Forum V is "Fulfilling our
Commitments: Effective action against Corruption."
Global Forum V will explore the interrelationship between the UN Convention
against Corruption, its implementation mechanism (the Conference of States
Parties) and the Global Forum. The implementation of sub-regional, regional and
international instruments is strongly promoted through Global Forum. Any
development and engagement that would strengthen these relationships is to be
welcomed. Through such relationships the integration and co-ordination of
global efforts are strengthened and enhanced.
Having emerged from the Africa Forum with a consolidated approach to
corruption African countries approach the Global Forum with a renewed sense of
vigour, and a realistic programme of action. We will present the Ekurhuleni
Declaration to the Global Forum and call upon all states to intensify
co-operation and deepen the global onslaught against corruption. Africa will no
longer be seen to be guided by the dictates of the industrialised countries but
will now stand up to lead the struggle against corruption. It is the poor who
pay the highest price for corruption.
It is up to us who are dedicated to the alleviation of poverty in our
countries - countries that best know the debilitating effects of poverty - to
be at the forefront of this battle. I have referred to the recognition by the
forum of the values of ujamaa and ubuntu, "I am what I am because of who we all
are" which is the essence of our commitment to fighting corruption. It is with
this commitment to social cohesion that I call on other sectors of society to
increase their participation in this fight that is critical to the
strengthening of our democratic society.
The endorsement of the declaration by this House today will be an historic
milestone in strengthening the commitment across society to advancing the
frontline of this battle. It is in this same spirit that I shall be approaching
business in the next month to support a campaign, both through material
resources as well as creative ideas, to embark on a mass communication
campaign:
* a campaign to make the people of our nation aware of the tools that we all
have to fight corruption
* a campaign to publicise the national Anti Corruption Hotline, 0800 701 701,
so that every citizen knows how to report corruption
* a campaign to make business aware of their legal requirements to report any
attempts to engage in corrupt practice
* to promote whistle blowing as a patriotic act of commitment to a corruption
free society.
We have proclaimed the 21st century as the African Century and we have
together with the broader international community welcomed the articulation of
the Millennium Development Goals and are continually striving to implement
policies and programmes to give effect and substance to these objectives of
lifting the African people out of economic and social deprivation. We strive
for sustained economic growth in a more egalitarian global economic order
despite the bumpy road we have thus far travelled. We have raised the bar for
our Continent and our people deserve no less.
We cannot fail them.
Enquiries:
Lewis Rabkin
Cell: 082 497 3220
Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
27 March 2007
