SACC campaign to tackle looting of Covid-19 funds

THE SA Council of Churches launched a campaign against the looting of Covid-19 funds yesterday, ahead of Heritage Month.

The council has called for September to be a month of direct action against corruption and presented a 10-point declaration for its campaign.

Bishop Zandile Myeni, presiding minister at the launch, said: “We lament that some of our public institutions have been weighed down by waste and mismanagement, and have become breeding grounds for fraud, theft and corrupt tender processes.

“We are ashamed by the level of greed and self-interest suffered by the people and the vulnerable even in the face of Covid-19 and health and economic crises, even when the stench of death has come to our doorstep.

“We lament that those we have entrusted with public responsibility and authority have become susceptible to forms of patronage, bribery and cronyism that undermine democratic decision-making and fair and competitive processes.”

Presiding bishop Reverend Purity Malinga said a lack of accountability by leaders created distrust, despair and cynicism among people. “We stand here as leaders of the church, starting this campaign, where we say as a nation that corruption is not our heritage as a nation.

“I want to make the first call to political leaders of our country in all spheres to live and practise honourable lives with accountability and leadership for the good of the nation. They are exemplary to the nation, and when the corruption comes from them, the whole nation sinks in corruption,” she said.

To help fight corruption, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba called for the establishment of a Chapter 9 institution independent of the executive.

“For the corrupt to be held to account, we need to urgently transform our corruption-fighting agencies both by urgently cleaning out existing agencies and adding a Chapter 9 institution to fight corruption, which is independent of the control of the executive.

“Such a body needs a toll-free number to encourage whistle-blowers to report corruption. We need more robust protection for those whistle-blowers, and have seen too much interference with the investigative and prosecution arms of government over the past two decades to depend only on the executive to ensure justice,” he said.