By Paul Hoffman
First published on Daily Maverick
Long ago, in a previous century and at a different time, the Durban Esplanade boasted a large pond in which small motorboats were available for hire by the public. Interested visitors paid for their numbered tickets and took a cruise around the pond in any direction they chose until a disembodied voice called out on the tannoy: “Come in number one, your time is up!”
Today, a call for “number one” to come in could be a reference to a leader (think presidents Mbeki and Zuma) or to a political party, as in Cyril Ramaphosa’s famous remark that at the Zondo commission hearings, the ANC was “accused number one”. It is not yet clear whether the ANC’s time is up, but those who made it “accused number one” have cause for pause in their activities of a corrupt and nefarious nature. It is up to the ANC to renew itself and to shed its leader’s characterisation of its status in society.
Soon, if there is no renewal, there will be nothing left to steal with “failure as a state” beckoning South Africa with its crooked finger. Lucky Matabula, who makes it his business to analyse policy, has expressed his misgivings poignantly. Renewal is on the ANC’s agenda but it has yet to become an action item.
It does not have to be so. Sadly, poverty, inequality and unemployment will stalk the land if serious corruption is not addressed in the long overdue and necessary process of the renewal of old and failed policies and practices on the anti-corruption front.
The people of South Africa deserve better in their national and individual quests for peace, progress, and prosperity, generally known as “a better life” as more fully set out in section 198 of the Constitution:
“… to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life”.
The ever-elusive better life for all does not happen magically nor can it be achieved in a country soaked in the toxic dregs of state capture – where looting of the public purse is an ongoing pursuit. Paul Pretorius SC, who led the evidence at the Zondo commission, believes that state capture is an ongoing feature of life in South Africa and said so at the Pari/Casac webinar in November 2024.
Corruption in South Africa is marked by the new forms it takes and by the activities of those who enter politics for personal gain instead of public service. There are still those who connive with big business both locally and abroad to repurpose the assets and funds of the state to their own selfish, greedy and unlawful ends.
More than enough engaged citizens in South Africa have it within their power to put a stop to this dreadfully destructive madness. The existence of the Government of National Unity (GNU) is the first tangible evidence that this outcome is a possibility. It was Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist, who explained long ago: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
The reason that the corrupt prevail and prosper is that, during the dominant party statehood that preceded the GNU, there was a lack of political will to do anything effective and efficient to stop their subversive activities.
Generating that political will is the work of engaged citizens who take the participative nature of our democratic order seriously and wish to effect the changes for the good that will flow from staunching corruption. It is not necessary to be clever or powerful to achieve this; determination and focus are all that are required. Saving the country from the corrupt is a worthwhile pursuit.
Here are 10 suggestions for stopping the corrupt in their tracks and changing South Africa for the better:
- Take the international obligations of South Africa seriously by insisting on the implementation by the state of our national undertakings to keep and maintain independent anti-corruption machinery of state under the UN, AU, SADC, and OECD treaties that South Africa has solemnly ratified as a member of the international community in good standing. The failure to do so impacts our status in the community of nations and constitutes a human rights violation because corruption is regarded as a human rights issue in South Africa.
- Persuade government to implement the binding findings of the Constitutional Court in the Glenister litigation, findings that require a body free of executive control to counter corruption. These findings did not suit the ANC when it was the dominant party in South Africa. They have been largely ignored, wished away and misinterpreted over the years, but the findings made remain binding on those in government and they can, should it be necessary, be forced on government through the litigation processes available to any public interest litigant willing to follow in the footsteps of Hugh Glenister. It is legally possible to claim a supervision order against government if it remains recalcitrant.
- Consider ways of improving on the drafts of legislation for a new Chapter 9 anti-corruption commission that was introduced in Parliament on 26 November 2024 and support the implementation of the proposed legislation with the improvements that emerge from the debate on them. The courts did not prescribe the details of what needs to be done, it is sufficient that the reasonable decision of a reasonable decision-maker in the circumstances is the product of the necessary legislative processes. So far, the various experiments with the Hawks and the new investigating directorates (one created by proclamation, the next by legislation) have failed miserably. A rethink is overdue. NACAC (the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council) was tasked back in 2022 with making recommendations, but its work has become bogged down in bureaucracy after being lost on the desk of the president. Currently, the NACAC interim report is being considered behind closed doors by those in government who created the Hawks and the new directorates without proper regard to what the law requires.
- Insist on the repeal of the legislation that created the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) because it does not comply with the Constitution as interpreted in the Glenister litigation in that the directorate is under executive control. If there is no willingness in government to so repeal, it is possible to assail the constitutionality of IDAC via public interest litigation.
- Advocate for the implementation the STIRS criteria created by the courts, for the benefit of all, to characterise the new anti-corruption body that must be designed to be:
- Specialised: a full-on focus on anti-corruption work to the exclusion of all else.
- Trained: to match the firepower of the corrupt. Use the FBI and Scotland Yard.
- Independent: free of political influence, control, and interference.
- Resourced in guaranteed fashion: so that there is always petrol in its tank.
- Secure in tenure of office: to remove the fear of being closed down summarily.
- Using the STIRS criteria, capacitate the anti-corruption machinery of state so that it can function effectively and efficiently. Make all appointments prudently, especially those in leadership positions. Insist on lie detector tests and integrity verification of all staff.
- Rake back the loot of state capture with or without the help of an international anti-corruption court.
- Build public awareness of the destructive nature of grand corruption and of the danger corruption poses to peace, progress and prosperity for all in South Africa. Work in schools, unions, CSOs and faith-based organisations are all useful on this front.
- Devise proper and effective protection for whistle-blowers who are the lifeblood of anti-corruption efforts. A new dispensation for our precious whistle-blowers in South Africa is long overdue and has become bogged down in red tape created by those who fear that the whistle will be blown on them or their associates. Encourage whistle-blowers.
- Support Integrity Initiatives International with its campaign for the creation of an international anti-corruption court in a manner that is consonant with the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution.
If enough engaged citizens (if you have read this far, dear reader, you are one) involve themselves in driving one or more of the 10 points raised above, it will be possible to counter the corrupt and to achieve that elusive better life for all.
Complaints to the South African Human Rights Commission and to the Public Protector are indicated and cost the complainant nothing. Here is an example of a complaint by Accountability Now to the Public Protector, feel free to devise your own before it is too late.
