Call to deal decisively with corruption in SA

Last year demonstrated the impact of corruption on the ability of the healthcare systems to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and the vulnerabilities for increased corruption in relation to emergency procurement requirements.

Liezl Groenewald, a business ethicist at Ethics Institute, said corruption would have no place in the country if it was dealt with across the board.

“As long as the perception exists that certain people are untouchable, or that one can easily get away with it, corruption will continue. It is imperative that words are translated into action.”

It emerged in a report this week that more than R430 million was spent on decontaminating schools in Gauteng between June and August last year.

ALSO READ: Lesufi wants probe of R430 million spent on unnecessary schools sanitation

Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said he was taken aback by this and called for an investigation.

Groenewald expressed dismay on the situation.

“On the surface, the amount seems exorbitant. A just distribution would have put less pressure on the fiscus to find money for vaccines, for example. With the MEC expressing shock one can only speculate about where the money actually went,” she said.

Groenewald added it was sad that such large amounts of money were spent because one expected that in these troubling and unsettling times, compassion for others would reign as opposed to personal greed.

Transparency International, a leading civil society organisation tackling corruption worldwide, is expected to release its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) on Thursday.

READ MORE: DA on vaccine procurement: ‘Five minutes later there will be corruption’

On the CPI scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), South Africa has been ranked below the 50-point mark for nearly a decade.

The CPI records specific indications of public sector corruption, which range from bribery, diversion of public funds,
effective prosecution of corruption cases, adequate legal frameworks and access to information.

Corruption Watch has vowed to continue to encourage and enable public participation and activism to prevent, exposes, report and combat corruption.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.