Eastern Cape Premier, Ms Noxolo Kiviet, today called all societal structures and individuals to help fight corruption by declaring each day as a day of activism against corruption as “corruption is a mutating problem that hurts all of us especially the poor”.
Premier Kiviet said that evidence showed the poor as being disproportionately affected. With the Eastern Cape among the poorest provinces in South Africa, she added: “It thus goes without saying that the impact of corruption in our public and private sectors affects the people of this province more than anywhere else. “Corruption in our government has become endemic to an extent that in our planning we have had to prioritise its prevention.
Having as a priority “intensifying the fight against crime and corruption” is an anomaly. I should request you to agree with me that ploughing excessive resources in dealing with the scourge of lawlessness associated with corruption and crime is a major setback in a country that seeks to urgently deal with issues of economic growth, job creation as well as poverty eradication among other urgencies.”
Premier Kiviet was addressing a gathering held in King Williamstown to recognise the International Anti-Corruption Day – which came as a result of resolution 58/4 of the United Nations General Assembly held in 31 October 2003. The decision to declare this day, the 9 December an International Anti-Corruption Day was meant to raise awareness about corruption and of the role of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in combating and preventing it.
She said the Eastern Cape Provincial Government fully supported the special focus day as corruption thwarted their efforts to deliver the quality of service that they wanted to provide to the people of the province. “If as the government we are to deliver on the will of the people, we need to lead processes that would come up with effective measures to combat corruption and deal with the corrupt, the corrupters as well as those who are corrupted using the full might of the law. “As the African National Congress government, we are calling on South African citizens and the respective entities to which they are affiliated to actively promote ethical and democratic values.
We ask leaders to lead by example and avoid conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interest by providing leadership to society as a whole in the fight against corruption. Premier Kiviet also paid special attention to the private sector as it also has a labour force that consist mostly of people from impoverished backgrounds that get affected when corruption rears its ugly head. “There is a perception within society that the corruption that affects the private sector is not important because it is their own money forgetting that it is ordinary people that lose jobs and their quality of life when corruption takes over,” said Kiviet
The provincial government efforts to deal with corruption include establishing the Provincial Anti-Corruption Forum as a non-statutory and cross-sectoral body; setting up a Provincial Anti-Corruption Council an inter-departmental and multi-agency structure (comprising heads of departments, South African Police Services, Special Investigating Unit, Public Protector, Independent Complaints Directorate, National Prosecuting Authority, National Intelligence Agency, Public Service Commission among others); finalisation of the Provincial Anti-Corruption Action Plan; compilation of the Whistle Blowing Policy for the province has been compiled; as well as institutionalisation of the Code of Ethics through ethics awareness workshops around the province; and the training of Ethics Officers in departments in almost all districts.
