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Cape Town – Taxpayers don’t deserve their money to be used for corrupt purposes, President Jacob Zuma told the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town on Thursday.
“No matter how big or small the issue, people want to see the law [against corrupt people] take its course,” he told delegates that included Patrice Motsepe and Graça Machel.
“We have special structures that investigate very deeply the corruption that happens, particularly in government,” he said. “There is more focus and a feeling that taxpayers’ money cannot be taken away from the people.
“If there is a problem, we have structures to investigate,” he said. “Even the president [referring to his own corruption case] is investigated thoroughly if there is something wrong.
“We have strong anti-corruption culture that we have developed that was never there before,” said Zuma.
“Government has established a lot of institutions that fight corruption,” he said.
“People have the right to go to the public protector.
“We bring an element of transparency. Some people are in jail, while others have lost their jobs because of corruption,” he said.
Zuma highlighted the central tender system that is being introduced to help stem corruption.
Regarding African politics, Zuma said presidents should not overstep their two-term limit. He also said the African leadership does not tolerate coups and that message seems to be working. In the past, people used to do their own things.
“People who say they want to serve two terms and then when their terms are up, they don’t want to go – that’s a problem,” he said.
