President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the fight against corruption, saying it requires dismantling systems of patronage that have become entrenched over many years and fighting the scourge extends beyond bringing culprits to justice in court.
The government was making progress towards the removal of SA from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist. “In June, FATF noted SA had completed all 22 action plan items to combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism,” Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter on Monday.
“Exiting the greylist is part of the fight against corruption and key to safeguarding the integrity of our financial system. Much of this work takes place behind the scenes.”
Ramaphosa said while there was a justifiable public expectation that there should be more convictions, also of those implicated in state capture, “fighting corruption extends way beyond putting culprits in the dock”.
Nacac’s final report
He noted the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (Nacac) had handed over its final report at the conclusion of its three-year term last week. Nacac was set up in 2022 to guide the implementation of the national anticorruption strategy and to strengthen the state’s anticorruption architecture.
The Nacac report includes a recommendation to establish a “permanent, independent, overarching anticorruption body”. “The council recommends that this body be known as the Office of Public Integrity and Anti-Corruption and that its mandate would be to prevent, investigate and remedy systemic corruption.
“The proposed body, which responds to one of the key recommendations of the state capture commission, would be expected to both fight corruption and prevent it from happening in the first place,” Ramaphosa said.
Law enforcement and AI
The Nacac report makes recommendations on the strengthening and co-ordination of law enforcement agencies, enhanced co-ordination mechanisms among the different law enforcement agencies, the use of AI to prevent corruption and the establishment of an anticorruption data sharing framework, the president said.
This fight requires the dismantling of systems of patronage that have become entrenched over many years.
— President Cyril Ramaphosa
“These recommendations will be thoroughly reviewed by the relevant government institutions for tabling and deliberation in cabinet. The work of Nacac makes it clear that the fight against corruption is complex, multifaceted and protracted,” Ramaphosa said.
“This fight requires the dismantling of systems of patronage that have become entrenched over many years. It requires strengthening state capacity to handle complex cases and closing regulatory loopholes that have enabled corruption to flourish.”
Private sector
The government, he said, needed to tackle public and private sector corruption with equal energy: “Tax evasion, market manipulation, inflated contracts and tender collusion by businesses significantly harm our economy, yet often receive less attention than corruption in public institutions. Amid daily reports of alleged corruption, South Africans want to see action. They want to see more arrests and convictions.”
The state capture commission reports laid bare how rogue businesspeople colluded with state actors to loot, pillage and plunder state-owned enterprises that were hollowed out and repurposed to serve the narrow, selfish interests of the politically connected.
Ramaphosa came under fire from his comrades in the past few years when he said the ANC is accused No 1 in corruption. Ramaphosa himself was cleared by a number of state institutions, including the SA Reserve Bank, of any exchange control violations in relation to the theft of dollars stuffed inside a couch on the Phala Phala game farm in February 2020.
Recent arrests and institutional reform
In his newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa said the year had seen a number of arrests linked to alleged corruption in Eskom, the SA Police Service, Transnet and in municipalities.
“While allegations of corruption within these important institutions are deeply disturbing, it is encouraging that they have been detected and that criminal action is being taken,” he said.
Corruption ... can become embedded in state institutions or business enterprises and manifest itself in practices and organisational culture.
“In July this year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery noted that SA continues to make progress in detecting and investigating foreign bribery cases, and that ‘the resilience and commitment of individual government and law-enforcement officials, working in a multi-agency approach, has contributed to this progress’.”
As the Nacac report points out, “we need to pursue institutional reform to address the shortcomings in practices and systems that have enabled corruption to flourish”.
“Corruption is much more than the result of the criminal intent of a few individuals be they government officials, elected public representatives or business people. It can become embedded in state institutions or business enterprises and manifest itself in practices and organisational culture,” Ramaphosa said.
“The success of our efforts relies on our ability to prevent corruption in the first place in state institutions, business enterprises or organs of civil society.
“That is why we need to build transparent, accountable and ethical institutions — both public and private — in which corruption is unable to take root. We all need to work together to build a society characterised by responsibility and integrity.”
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