Sever the tentacles of corruption

Only constitutional reform and a new breed of politicians can release our country from the tentacles of corruption suffocating the country.

The numerous scandals show that corruption and impropriety are embedded in our governance processes, and no band-aid approach can bring the country back to the level of governance of the early postapartheid times.

It proves the point that today’s perceived level of corruption is directly proportional to the quality of people who sit in our Parliament and the integrity of those who dispense the services of government.

Political parties are equally culpable, because their vetting processes for potential parliamentary and local government candidates are flawed and biased towards those who support the leader of the party rather than towards integrity, competency and morality.

If we separate the powers of government, make it more accountable and efficient and trim the powers of the ministers of government, we would have gone a far way in chopping off the tentacles of corruption.

That, however, is easier said than done, because power is “sweet” and not easy to relinquish.

As a people we must immediately demand that the government begins the process of constitutional reform as a matter of priority. We must demand that our MPs end this scandal-after-scandal syndrome in our country. They need training and counselling to improve their governance. But no training will fix the corruption if the system facilitates it; hence we need reforms. —