SA’s political elites increasingly recognise that the spread of corruption and patronage is the major long-term challenge confronting the society. Deputy President complains that corruption, found at every level of government across all parts of the country, is “far worse than anyone imagines”.
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi bewails a revolution undermined by the “rush to be rich”, while the Democratic Alliance (DA) laments a “closed crony society”. Even the “cowards” of the big business community express similar concerns behind closed doors.
There are three major obstacles to action .
First, while every sector of society condemns corruption as a threat to the social fabric, the primary responsibility, it seems, always lies with others. Business people complain that greedy elites accept bribes — even when these inducements have been offered by businesses themselves. Captains of industry remain relentless colluders and price-fixers who have started to believe their own propaganda about “corporate good conduct” and “social responsibility”. For decades, communists have manipulated union elections to secure “donations” from the workers, but they still consider themselves beacons of virtue. Cosatu unions stubbornly protect their corrupt and moonlighting members from investigation. DA leaders curiously believe apartheid was wrong but that their supporters’ wealth was nevertheless justly acquired. None of these groups will initiate action as none is willing to admit culpability.
Second, any war against corruption must be led from the top of the state, but it is precisely here that the rot is most advanced. Officials float above qualified financial audits and corruption scandals. Those “asked to resign” simply reappear in different departments at higher grades. Conflict of interest declarations are ignored with impunity across all spheres of government. Many senior “public servants” are too busy seeking inflated state contracts for their families’ private companies to do the work for which they are paid.
The third obstacle is the ruling liberation movement itself. The ANC remains at heart a party of opposition activists who have not yet come to terms with the responsibilities of government. Looting the state or accepting crumbs from the white businessman’s table are sometimes treated as legitimate activities because they are still viewed as acts of resistance.
After years of feeble equivocation, the national executive committee has yet to announce action on conflicts of interest, moonlighting, revolving doors and corruption in state licensing and tendering systems.
There are deeper obstacles to ANC reform, however, that lie in the movement’s political self-interest. Party competition is making the ANC increasingly dependent upon control of government bureaucracies and parastatals to mobilise the resources needed for re-election. The abuse of public sector power to create jobs and buy votes is not unique to this society. Neither is the punishment of electors imprudent enough to vote for opposition parties. What the ANC shares with only a small number of other dominant parties, however, is its dramatic but indirect dependence on state power to finance election campaigns and party expenses.
The ANC’s resource system began modestly in the early 1990s with Thebe Investments. Recently ANC front companies such as Chancellor House have more boldly inserted themselves into private sector contracts with parastatals and government departments . ANC grandees and their relations, who are expected to be donors to the party, have secured vastly remunerative prospecting rights and mining licences. The Progressive Business Forum meanwhile milks business for money in exchange for access, and the Network Lounge reportedly fed as much as R40m of parastatal monies directly into ANC coffers at the Polokwane conference alone.
The Gauteng-based Friends of the ANC (Franc), which played a major role in the ANC’s electoral success this year, illustrates a new trend at provincial level. Franc business associates favoured with government contracts later pledged substantial donations to the ANC and paid R20 000 a plate to attend gala dinners with liberation movement leaders.
What is at stake, therefore, is not merely the material comfort of ANC leaders, but also the resource advantage the movement requires for electoral survival. For this reason alone, visionary and decisive leadership will be required if the wasteful and corrupt state tendering system, and the routinised milking of state and parastatal assets, are to be brought under some kind of reasonable control.
- Butler teaches public policy at UCT.