There’s more to anti-corruption speak than just words

By Moepeng Valencia Talane – CW Voices

There is something worrying and unnervingly consistent in the messaging around corruption by members of the executive in South Africa’s government, mostly because of the tone that is set and the words that are used.

Yes, it’s important to reflect truthfully and call a spade a spade when relaying concerns over the impact of corruption, but as the country’s leaders, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cabinet must set a tone of authority and confidence in government’s anti-corruption efforts. Unless, of course, such confidence is lacking, which is another story for another day.  

Some context: both the opening and closing speeches at the Commonwealth Regional Conference for Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa – held in Cape Town last week – are testament to this. Both were read by Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, the latter speech delivered on Ramaphosa’s behalf. In both speeches, nothing new was shared about the disastrous impact of corruption on our society, our economy, and our ability to move forward as a country. Instead, both leaders had the same idea: to tell the other dignitaries at the conference what they already know about corruption, from its sophisticated networks of enablers to the inability of governments to successfully eradicate it. 

Kubayi even went to extra lengths to describe how state capture happened in South Africa over the course of several years. She explained the nature of players involved in it, their modus operandi, the tools they used to help capture the state, and finally the impact on institutions and their ability to function. She even went as far as to tell the conference how law enforcement agencies in the criminal justice system were weakened in the process.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with sharing experiences among countries that face similar challenges when it comes to corruption, particularly with a forward-thinking resolve that involves finding solutions. Where it does create a challenge is when the tone set by those at the top conveys a message filled with a sense of dejectedness or even stagnation in the fight against corruption. On the one hand, they rightly tend to characterise it as a destructive scourge that is an unwelcome enemy of South Africa as a democratic state continuing to build on its identity and strengths.

On the other hand, they inadvertently enable both its power and that of its perpetrators by describing the fight against corruption as complex and cumbersome.

The takeaway for ordinary South Africans from repeated statements like that is that even the leaders are baffled by how corruption should be fought. 

Positives not highlighted

There are many positives that the current administration has already achieved that Kubayi could have highlighted. Such include legislative and institutional policy and structural reforms that are either completed or under way, as well as notably stronger civil society collaborations that have enhanced knowledge-sharing.

Yes, the implementation of the State Capture Commission recommendations has been slower than many South Africans, including its chairperson and former chief justice Raymond Zondo, would have preferred. Zondo also took the podium at the event. The work done to recapacitate key regulatory institutions that were drained in the state capture years has been slow, but it has been happening, not to mention the gallant efforts of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC) in building on the foundation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS).

NACAC councillors have extended their expertise in research, consultative endeavours with civil society and community groups, among others, and in public engagements that give insights into the direction of their work.

Chairperson Prof Firoz Cachalia told the NACAC national dialogue, held on last year’s International Anti- Corruption Day, that the council has every intention of taking its work of more than two years to communities to enable a thorough and inclusive conversation about how we as a country can insulate key state resources from corruption going forward.  

The ‘when’ and the ‘how’ are still works in progress, but the intention and will is there, and the tone set in these public engagements is that something is being done with citizens in mind as not just beneficiaries, but changemakers too. NACAC recognises that it’s no coincidence that members of the public are increasingly wary of government’s efforts to fight corruption. This perception is fuelled by a lack of accountability for some politically connected individuals, even where government has well thought-through intentions.  

South African public must be part of the solution

So, while both Ramaphosa and Kubayi tell this all-important conference about the dangers, complexities, negative impact, and elusiveness of corruption, its enablers, and its perpetrators, they come across as oblivious to the most fundamental requirement for a solution: that South Africans must be part of solving the problems of the societal ill that is corruption.

Furthermore, for the all-of-society effort to reverse the destruction, the public must be informed of where the corruption fight has been taken so far. Even the small wins are exactly that – wins. If the NACAC – established fresh off the back of the commission – was meant to come up with solutions that are guided by the NACS, why is it hesitating to take the public into its confidence and allow them to support the council’s vision as it relates what is in the public interest?

A saving grace for both speeches is that they mentioned the establishment of the Special Investigating Unit’s Anti-Corruption and Cyber Academy, which is intended to help bolster capacity in forensic and cyber-crime investigations, a welcome effort in its own right, and one to congratulate Ramaphosa’s administration on. Capacitating the criminal justice system with forensic investigative technology and expertise that match the rapidly evolving global standard must be commended. Hopefully the academy’s successes will translate into shorter turnaround times for corruption investigations across all law enforcement agencies, and enhanced capacity in forensics in the judiciary.

Over time, we can only hope, advances in training and capacity in forensic investigations will also mean that the tone of our government leadership, when talking about corruption with regional and international stakeholders, will be that of a winning nature.

Of course, neither Ramaphosa nor Kubayi misrepresented the impact of corruption in their speeches. It is indeed a complex and damaging crime, but one that this administration has made notable strides in combating. What Ramaphosa, his cabinet, and the rest of government leadership must do is to take the same public in whose interest the NACAC was formed, into its confidence and allow the all-of-society efforts to solve the corruption problem to start taking shape.