Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Corruption is increasing to harm the
economy and undermine government's service delivery obligations, mostly
to the detriment of the poor, said Gavin Woods, head of the University
of Stellenbosch's Anti-Corruption Centre for Education and Research
(Accerus).
Woods made his comments on Thursday ahead of the United Nations World Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, held annually to raise awareness about corruption and how to combat the worldwide scourge.
Marius Alberts, a director of professional services firm Deloitte, said several studies have shown that poor people are always the worst affected by corruption.
Also on Thursday Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi described corruption as having become a matter of life and death.
"In parts of SA today, people are being intimidated or even killed for exposing and preventing corruption. Corruption is a threat to a better life for all," he said.
Vavi said the flood of corruption scandals and the spread of the culture of greed and self-enrichment were threatening to unravel the fabric of society.
He also said audits have shown that the level of accumulation and misappropriation of state resources has reached alarming proportions.
Departments were not enforcing the laws, and officials were exploiting gaps in the laws to win government tenders. It painted a bleak picture of public servants who are supposed to be caring for the public, but are in fact promoting their own narrow financial interests, Vavi said.
He then described a "nightmare future of a SA up for auction to the highest bidder".
Woods said by many accounts corruption was becoming systemic in nature. This made it clear that the public and private sectors have yet to gain an adequate understanding of this complex phenomenon and its multi-causal nature, as demonstrated by the limited effectiveness of initiatives to combat it.
According to Woods, laws and rules fail to invoke the moral conscience of would-be perpetrators of corruption. These laws also did not manage to deter them.
Research conducted by Accerus showed that weak, inexperienced and incompetent managers in government departments also allowed corruption to flourish.
"Even the possibility of increased investigations by legally empowered investigative agencies has failed to change corrupt behaviour trends," Woods said.
A lack of management experience means that many senior government officials are not able to cope with the responsibility of their work.
"Officials without the requisite experience and qualifications often cannot deal with budgets and struggle to manage supply chain and procurement systems," Woods said.
He said this created the ideal opportunity for people to be corrupt without fear of being caught.
"Since many senior managers do not comprehend anti-corruption legislation, they are unwilling to enforce these laws," Woods said.
Alberts said the cost of corruption in monetary terms was hard to quantify, simply because it is paid with the intention to be covert and sometimes takes the form of a favour.
However, he said several studies have shown that corruption always affects the poor the hardest.
"The actual financial costs are also difficult to compare or measure against the human tragedy behind illiteracy, or inadequate medical care, brought about because of corrupt activities," he said.
Alberts said the fact that SA's position on Transparency International's 2011 Corruption Index was worse than 2010 did not bode well for the future.
In 2010 SA was at position 54 with a score of 4.5 out of 10 (with 0 being highly corrupt). In 2011 we are at position 64, with a score of 4.1.
Woods made his comments on Thursday ahead of the United Nations World Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, held annually to raise awareness about corruption and how to combat the worldwide scourge.
Marius Alberts, a director of professional services firm Deloitte, said several studies have shown that poor people are always the worst affected by corruption.
Also on Thursday Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi described corruption as having become a matter of life and death.
"In parts of SA today, people are being intimidated or even killed for exposing and preventing corruption. Corruption is a threat to a better life for all," he said.
Vavi said the flood of corruption scandals and the spread of the culture of greed and self-enrichment were threatening to unravel the fabric of society.
He also said audits have shown that the level of accumulation and misappropriation of state resources has reached alarming proportions.
Departments were not enforcing the laws, and officials were exploiting gaps in the laws to win government tenders. It painted a bleak picture of public servants who are supposed to be caring for the public, but are in fact promoting their own narrow financial interests, Vavi said.
He then described a "nightmare future of a SA up for auction to the highest bidder".
Woods said by many accounts corruption was becoming systemic in nature. This made it clear that the public and private sectors have yet to gain an adequate understanding of this complex phenomenon and its multi-causal nature, as demonstrated by the limited effectiveness of initiatives to combat it.
According to Woods, laws and rules fail to invoke the moral conscience of would-be perpetrators of corruption. These laws also did not manage to deter them.
Research conducted by Accerus showed that weak, inexperienced and incompetent managers in government departments also allowed corruption to flourish.
"Even the possibility of increased investigations by legally empowered investigative agencies has failed to change corrupt behaviour trends," Woods said.
A lack of management experience means that many senior government officials are not able to cope with the responsibility of their work.
"Officials without the requisite experience and qualifications often cannot deal with budgets and struggle to manage supply chain and procurement systems," Woods said.
He said this created the ideal opportunity for people to be corrupt without fear of being caught.
"Since many senior managers do not comprehend anti-corruption legislation, they are unwilling to enforce these laws," Woods said.
Alberts said the cost of corruption in monetary terms was hard to quantify, simply because it is paid with the intention to be covert and sometimes takes the form of a favour.
However, he said several studies have shown that corruption always affects the poor the hardest.
"The actual financial costs are also difficult to compare or measure against the human tragedy behind illiteracy, or inadequate medical care, brought about because of corrupt activities," he said.
Alberts said the fact that SA's position on Transparency International's 2011 Corruption Index was worse than 2010 did not bode well for the future.
In 2010 SA was at position 54 with a score of 4.5 out of 10 (with 0 being highly corrupt). In 2011 we are at position 64, with a score of 4.1.
