All corruption must be punished

A steep fall in shareholder value on the JSE, especially of the government employees’ pension fund, has been attributed to Steinhoff, which is accused of inflating its earnings. Last year, KPMG admitted to errors in auditing certain companies linked to state capture. Similarly, several multinational banks have acknowledged that they manipulated currency to influence the foreign exchange market.

We’ve grown accustomed to passing harsh judgment on corruption in the public sector. However, the nefarious activities in the private sector are expressed in sophisticated terms that seem to lessen the effect of the corruption, which gets in the way of the developmental state and socioeconomic transformation.

Perhaps we should nationalise the local assets of those found with their hands in the cookie jar.

Communists argue that the inclination of capital is to make profit at all costs, without caring about the consequences for the poor. They contend that capitalists are insensitive to the conditions on the ground.

And yet there are lots of communists flying the red flag while they wait for their own opportunity for patronage.

The way forward is to discipline those who have committed corrupt activities and compel them to contribute 10% of their personal annual earnings to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme for 10 years.