Mbeki links anti-corruption battle to development

Opening the conference, President Thabo Mbeki is quoted as saying that ‘... Corruption in all its forms and manifestations constitutes a process that negates the democracy and development the ordinary people need to transcend the boundaries of their world of poverty, underdevelopment and disempowerment.’ And, he said, anti-corruption instruments alone were not sufficient to solve the problem. They had to be firmly located within a development and anti-poverty discourse. The Citizen reports that more than 1 500 delegates from more than 100 countries have arrived in SA for the four-day conference on preventing and fighting corruption. They include Ministers, heads of anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies, and officials dealing with governance, money laundering and customs. Full report in The Citizen

Reflecting on the Africa Forum on Fighting Corruption held in February, Public Services and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi reiterated that corruption was a global phenomenon ‘rooted in history’. The Cape Times reports that she urged delegates to infuse the African traditions of egalitarian and democratic communal values into the global discourse on corruption. ’The value of ubuntu and ujamaa inform all of us of our humanity. They tell us that we are human by virtue of the mutual support we give one another. This is the key motive force in our fight against corruption.’ Full Cape Times report

The fight would be easier if corruption was better measured, according to Antonio Costa, the executive director of the UN’s office on drugs and crime who is quoted by Business Day as saying: ‘For the time being we don’t really know the level of corruption in different countries.’ Speaking at the conference, Costa said: ‘We have perception indicators, mainly because of Transparency International, but this is a feeling or impression of corruption. I want to measure corruption; I don’t want to measure shadows. I want to measure objects.’ The report says some countries, including SA, have questioned how corruption is measured. The Anti-Corruption Forum, chaired by Public Service Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, has been scathing about Transparency’s study, saying it falls short of giving a meaningful contribution to the corruption debate. Full Business Day report

Meanwhile, a survey has found that at least half the adult population believes that corruption is widespread among public officials and that most of them are engaged in corruption. A report on the Sunday Times site notes that managers of private businesses were seen as corrupt by more than a third of those surveyed. Meanwhile, 54% of the adults surveyed believe that the government was doing well in fighting corruption in government. The survey was conducted by Markinor and the University of Stellenbosch. Full report on Sunday Times site

Better pay will help combat corruption in the public sector, according to the head of the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers, Judge Dikgang Moseneke, who was commenting on the release by the commission of a major review of remuneration. According to a report on the Mail & Guardian Online site, the review makes recommendations on the pay and benefits of politicians, including Mbeki, Cabinet ministers, MPs, members of provincial legislatures, judges, magistrates, and local government councillors. Moseneke said ‘transparent and fair remuneration arrangements will lead to good government’. He added: ‘A justifiable remuneration regime will aid in combating corruption and other crime related to levels of remuneration and allocation of ill-regulated benefits and allowances.’ Full report on the Mail & Guardian Online site