Time for honest, accountable leadership

TRANSPARENCY International (TI) recently released its 2018 Corruption Perception Index and gave South Africa a score of 43 out of 100, unchanged from 2017. The index uses a scale of 0 to 100 whereby a score of zero indicates a very corrupt and a score of 100 a very clean public service.

The score handed to South Africa is worrying as it reflects that our country is failing to reform its institutions and clean up the public service.

While it is easier to consider this an indictment of South African politics, the truth is that corruption has become a systemic problem that pervades every level of society in SA.

Dr David Monyai, co-director of the University of Johannesburg Confucius Institute (UJCI), is spot on in theorising that corruption is not a “victimless crime” but a “crime against humanity” which comes close to “genocide”.

Little wonder that South Africa is generally dubbed “the protest capital of the world”. Failure to deliver basic services, poor governance, mismanagement, and above all, corruption, are cited as some of the causes of protests.

Protests serve as a medium for the disenfranchised people in society. They are a symbol that the government has disengaged from the people.

To further the debate of the need for state building reforms, the Afrobarometer statistics indicate that a majority – 62% of South Africans – do not trust their political leaders.

This means there is a huge leadership void. Leaders with high moral integrity are few and far between. Political power has become an easy path to becoming wealthy.

How did we get here?

Part of the reason we find ourselves in this mess is that we have misunderstood the importance of leadership. We have anointed and ordained non-leaders as leaders.

We have accepted standards that are lower than desirable in our demand for true leaders, thus selling our souls to people who are only interested in serving a personal agenda under the disguise of “leadership”. We have allowed cronyism and patronage to oil the wheels of government, ensuring that corruption goes unpunished.

Even when opportunity knocks to rid us of leaders whose conduct remains the same even after changing seats, the government chooses to hoard them by reshuffling them to other positions in governance, consequently, failing to leverage state security apparatus to flush out and punish corruption and economic crime.

It suffices to say that the demand for true leadership has never been greater as we head to the national elections. You as a voter have an opportunity to show that you no longer have an appetite for leadership which places self-interest over service beyond self. You have an opportunity to support a leadership that has deservedly earned your trust.

The IFP has been your reliable partner in good governance for the last 43 years. We have never based our election campaign on promises. Rather, our focus has always been on inviting you to partner with us based on a relationship of trust.

You as a voter can join hands with us in enabling this leadership to emerge in our country. Together we can put an end to the lie that has been recycled for 25 years. We can be the bulldozer that crushes corruption.

Dhlamini is a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, and IFP chairperson in Gauteng.