The slippery slope of corruption

That certainly should not come as a shock to anyone. And sadly no amount of doom can erase the reality that indeed in this country the love of money remains the root of much evil.

Corruption is the cause for our country’s financial woes, for indeed, money has this scary way of corrupting even the most noble of characters.

I therefore lauded Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa when he made it clear that corruption will not be tolerated.

He recently addressed the elective conference of the SA Local Government Association, during which Ramaphosa strongly condemned graft, especially at local government level.

He said the country deserved councillors who were not corrupt and who were responsive to the needs of the people.

Good for our Deputy President; however, as we all know, talk is also cheap.

And this is a big problem in this country – the proof is in the pudding, yet so many times the pudding looks sadly like one that has been sprayed with Doom.

And corruption should be dealt with harshly in this country, judging by a recent survey of ordinary South Africans conducted by the Ethics Institute of South Africa and sponsored by Massmart-Walmart.

This survey has dished up some startling revelations that will make you choke on your morning muesli.

What I found interesting is that according to this study, 75 per cent of those who were asked for a bribe ended up paying it. Yes, three quarters of people wilted under the pressure.

Welcome to our corrupt nation – that should be a slogan on the doors of OR Tambo when passengers disembark from overseas.

Just as shocking is that 33 per cent of respondents knew of somebody who had been asked for a bribe in the past year.

Wait, there is more, because there is always more in a land where its pride and joy (the Springboks) are now the laughing stock of the world.

Other stats show that the average bribe amount is R2 200, up by R195 from last year.

According to survey respondents the top five reasons for resorting to bribery are to avoid traffic offences (36 per cent); to secure a job (18 per cent); to obtain a driver’s licence (15 per cent); to get a tender (7 per cent); and to receive unauthorised discounts from business (4 per cent).

I hope government is taking notice, because it is government’s lack of creating jobs that, it seems, is pushing people to resort to bribery to obtain jobs.

Thank you, our government. The corruption you sow is now being reaped as the citizens of this nation are steadily also falling into the rabbit hole of dubious behaviour.

Deon Rossouw, CEO of The Ethics Institute, said that the findings show that bribery is equally prevalent in the private sector, despite the widespread view that it is primarily something that affects the public sector.

Thankfully, he added that while bribery is quite prevalent, we are not yet at the point where “everyone does it”.

“It is interesting to note that while 78 per cent of respondents do not believe they can get through everyday life without paying a bribe, the fact is that only 20 per cent of people know someone who has paid a bribe in the last year,” he said.

I also enjoy his conclusion to the entire matter:

“Virtually everybody agrees that not enough is being done to combat bribery in the country, but perhaps we should be talking more about people’s individual responsibility not to participate in bribery.”

Yes sir, and that remains the argument: no matter what laws we pass to curb corruption, and no matter the efforts of law enforcement, if our nation’s moral compass is not addressed then we will continue to crawl around in the muck of our own own decadent self-destruction.