South Africa to launch Anti-Corruption Bureau in July
The South African government continues struggle with “rampant” corruption as Minister Lindiwe Sisulu announces new Anti-Corruption Bureau. But some MPs have already questioned the bureau’s future effectiveness, saying that its budget of R17 million was too little compared to state corruption estimated at billions of rands.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau, the South African government’s latest attempt to counter corruption, is ready and will take off next month, Public Service and Administration Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has announced.
Sisulu is yet to ask President Jacob Zuma to proclaim the need for this initiative, but says the Anti-Corruption Bureau will start its work in July.
Briefing Parliament’s oversight committee on public service last week, Sisulu said, “My own party, the ruling party, has been very vocal in its determination to ensure that we deal with corruption wherever it rears its head. And so my job was cut out almost immediately when I came in (last year). So in the very first meeting that we had, we resolved as a department that we would prioritise this matter.”
The Anti-Corruption Bureau will conduct investigations and institute disciplinary proceedings on corruption-related matters at all levels of the public service – national, provincial and local. But, initially it will focus on high-profile cases.
Sisulu wants the Bureau to target not only public servants but also those who corrupt them, as she pushes for companies that break the law to be blacklisted.
The Bureau will also refer criminal cases to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and facilitate the protection of ‘whistle-blowers.’
So far, South Africa has failed in its struggle with corruption. According to a report called The Real State of the Nation, released in May 2013, officially nearly US$ 111 million of taxpayers’ money was lost due to corruption last year. However, it suggested that the actual amount was much higher because corruption cases are underreported and the figures did not include local governments.
“Corruption is rampant. It’s out of control… And the dedicated units that have been created to fight financial misconduct are in essence fighting a losing battle,” said the author of the report, financial forensics expert Peter Allwright.
Some MPs have already questioned the bureau’s future effectiveness, saying that its budget of R17 million was too little compared to state corruption estimated at billions of rand. Sisulu admitted that the budget was constrained, but said that the Anti-Corruption Bureau will grow incrementally.
ANC MP Dumisani Ximbi also raised concerns about the employees of the bureau: “Are they going to be screened by the department to make sure they can handle all those issues, so they can’t release that sensitive information to other people?”
