Corruption Affects Us All

Fighting corruption

Constraints to the expansion of economy and business

Corruption affects us all. It threatens sustainable economic development, ethical values and justice. Corruption destabilizes our society and endangers the rule of law. It undermines the institutions and values of our young democracy.

But because public policies and public resources are largely beneficial to poor people, it is the poor who suffer the harmful effects of corruption most grievously.

To be dependent on the government for housing, healthcare, education, security and welfare, makes the poor most vulnerable to corruption since it stalls service delivery. Delays in infrastructure development, poor building quality and layers of additional costs are all consequences of corruption.

Many acts of corruption deprive our citizens of their constitutional and their human rights.

High corruption levels frustrate society’s ability to operate fairly and efficiently and the state’s ability to deliver on its development mandate. In; Transparency International’s global corruption survey. South Africa has fallen from 38th place in 2001 to 54th place in 2010 out of 178 countries. Corruption often involves both public and private sector participants. The perception of high levels of corruption at senior levels of government makes the fight against corruption that much harder.

A practical example:

Tender System: currently has created lots of Companies not sustainable outside tender process/system.

It also created lots of companies that were successful as long as they were in favour with government officials. As soon as political guard shifts, those same businesses start retrenching their workers.

This phenomenon does not affect “fly by nights” businesses but als...

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...prosecutors and specialized courts to handle corruption cases.

The National Development Plan proposes radical reforms in several areas, Parliament’s oversight role should be enhanced, the political/administrative interference stabilized, the public service professionalized, skills upgraded and coordination improved.

Business opportunities and economic advantages that may potentially arise from implementation of the NDP

Reduced corruption ensures that government spending can be spent on other economic expanding activities as there will be more funds available, or a better special investigation unit decreases crime which reduces individual and business costs.

References: http;/politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619/page71656?oid=266508&sn=Detal&pid=71656. http://www.news24.com/South Africa/news/how-Limpompo-went-bankrupt-20120122-2