E Molewa: Commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day

9 December 2007

Programme Director
Honourable Minister for Public Service and Administration
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Your Worships the Mayors
Councillors
Members of the North West Anti-Corruption Forum
Heads of Department and Other Officials Here Present
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

As government we convene and hold many commemoration events a year. Today's
event, however, must rate as truly one of the most important. Corruption, which
we are here to condemn, is a threat to the economy of any country. We in South
Africa, particularly – with our programme of eradicating poverty – cannot
afford to have our economic development compromised and undermined by
corruption.

Investment, both local and foreign, is at the heart of or remarkable
economic renaissance in the last thirteen years, and investment is almost
always the first casualty of corruption.

Let us begin by mustering the courage – as products of a principled
tradition of struggling for justice – to admit that our international image as
the African continent is, rightly or wrongly, tainted by perceptions of
corruption. Having made that admission, let us be bold enough to admit that
that perception is, in some cases, justified if you consider some of the
misdemeanours perpetrated in various parts of the continent, with some of our
countries sadly viewed as homes of corruption.

In the commission of corruption we are, perhaps, no different from other
continents, for unfortunately human beings will, at some time or another, fall
into temptation. That others do it too, however, should be no justification for
corruption, and our being here today is intended, among other things, to
demonstrate that position.

Our theme, too – which emphasises our togetherness in fighting corruption to
build integrity in the age of hope – strongly expresses our collective
commitment to communities, and a society, as well as a nation, free of
corruption. Our establishment of the multi-stakeholder Provincial
Anti-Corruption Forum, and our commemoration of our first – to be annual –
International Anti-Corruption Day, are both clear pointers to our
anti-corruption attitude as a province – an attitude which considers corruption
as counter-revolutionary and dangerous to the future of our country.

Attitude, however – and however well-intentioned – is nothing without
action. Our zero tolerance for corruption has to be seen in activities and
interventions which send a clear and unambiguous message. That is why, as part
of our anti-corruption and fraud measures in the province, last year we
officially launched the Provincial Forensic Management Committee. This
committee is made up of key stakeholders that include the Auditor General, Head
of the South African Police Service (SAPS) Commercial Unit, the Special
Investigations Unit and the Director-General (DG) of the province. The primary
role of the committee is to oversee all forensic projects in the province.

We also conducted a number of workshops to improve our officials'
anti-corruption capacity to handle on for the sole purpose of improving their
anti-corruption capacity. The workshops included the handling of hotline cases
received through the national Public Service Commission. Training was also
provided on the formulation of internal anti-corruption strategies.

To manage any conflicts of interest, we have also rigorously applied the
public service policy where all senior officials are expected to declare their
financial interests and participation in companies. That is why in my State of
the Province Address I was happy to inform the Provincial Legislature that for
the 2005/06 financial year all senior managers in this province had filled and
submitted their forms – and I went on to characterise this as a significant
achievement in our fight against corruption.

We are proud to say that as a result of our Code of Conduct the vast
majority of our public servants live and work by, and epitomise, professional,
moral and exemplary behaviour in line with the principles embedded in the code.
It is because of this, among other things, that I am able to stand here today
and assure the Minister that as a province we are committed to a
corruption-free public service and society.

As we assure the Minister of our commitment, let us also thank her for her
own commitment as demonstrated by her joining us here today. Indeed, national
leadership is one of the weapons we need in this struggle for a new society far
removed from the endemic corruption that the unjust apartheid regime once
represented in our country.

What makes us even prouder in our fight against corruption is the fact that
virtually all sectors of our society – from business to labour, from civil
society groupings to individual entities, and from the private to the public
sector – are united, through our Provincial Anti-Corruption Forum, in their
determination to build a province where corruption is viewed as an anomaly and
an abnormality.

In this mass movement of the people we see an acknowledgment that it will
take the active mobilisation of both individuals and organisations to plant the
idea that corruption is immoral and reap the resultant rewards of a prosperous
nation and society. Our inspired fight for a clean society is a new terrain of
struggle, and it symbolises a new commitment.

In this commitment we join our country, which is a signatory to a number of
regional and international anti-corruption conventions, among which are the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol Against Corruption, the
African Union (AU) Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, and the
United Nations (UN) Convention Against Corruption.

I must end, in anticipation of a more detailed speech by the Minister, by
saying that if we are to build a nation free of corruption, everything must
begin at home and in our schools and our places of religion, for it is in these
and other social institutions that mindsets are created and characters are
influenced. As we celebrate this day, then, we are effectively calling upon our
mothers and fathers and uncles and aunts to remember that it all begins at
home. We are calling upon our teachers and our religious leaders to remember
that schools and places of worship are in the vanguard of character building.
We call upon our traditional leaders and community activists to remember that
the values of a community rub on to individual members.

As the famous Motown song says, "We are all in this thing together, we got
to work it out."

I thank you all

Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
9 December 2007