The stink of corruption won’t go away
SOME people may believe Shamila Batohi couldn’t have chosen a worse time to begin her new challenge as head of the National Prosecuting Authority.
Others may argue it doesn’t really matter – things can’t realistically get any worse than they already are at the NPA.
Whichever way one looks at it, Batohi and her team of prosecutors face a gargantuan task of decontaminating a government that’s reeking of deeply entrenched corruption, leaving a nasty stink in the air.
The crisis has in fact reached such a sorry state that South Africa is now ranked 73rd out of 180 countries in the latest Corruption Perception Index.
It’s not as if South Africans were caught by surprise by these statistics.
We’ve always known that corruption existed and have been reading newspaper exposes of numerous instances of bribery, misappropriation of public funds, unlawful tenders and nepotism at all levels of government and in the private sector. But we were quite frankly complacent and hoped the problem would go away with time.
It is often said that before things can get better, they have to get worse, sometimes a lot worse.
But does South Africa have to wait until “hitting rock bottom” before coming to its senses and changing its ways?
Our ranking by the Corruption Perception Index should come as an major embarrassment and serve as a wake-up call before it’s too late.
If we wish to end the scourge of corruption, halt the outflow of our money to foreign lands and avoid any further reputational damage to our country, our leaders need to act swiftly and decisively to rebuild law enforcement institutions like the NPA, the SIU, the SAPS and the Hawks.
The credibility of such key pillars in our democracy have been compromised over the past decade by unscrupulous political leaders intent on plundering our coffers with impunity.
The people of South Africa are now sickened by the stink of corruption emerging from public hearings of the state capture inquiry. They have had enough of Guptagate and the Bosasa scandals and are demanding that those behind the looting be arrested and held accountable for their crimes.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly committed himself to eradicating corruption. It is now incumbent on him to go further and ensure law enforcement agencies are given the mandate and resources to act decisively. Failure to do so can have serious repercussions for him and the ruling party when people go to the polls in May.