Gauteng gets tough on corruption
The fight against corruption is being intensified with the launch of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Advisory Council in Gauteng
In what has been described as a first for the country, the Gauteng Provincial Government has established a civil society-led Ethics and Anti-Corruption Advisory Council to help fight fraud and corruption.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura recently announced the members of the council which is expected to be the anti-corruption watchdog of the province and help the Gauteng Provincial Government to deal with corruption more effectively.
He explained that the establishment of the council was a demonstration of the provincial government’s commitment to fight corruption and promote clean governance, integrity and ethics.
“This is the first initiative of its kind in our Republic. As the Gauteng government, we want to subject ourselves to scrutiny by civil society on how we are doing in building an ethical culture and fighting fraud and corruption in our province,” said Premier Makhura.
Independent institution
The council is composed of 10 members who are representatives from civil society, business, academia
and community structures and have all worked in the promotion of integrity and ethics.
South African Institute of Chartered Accountants Executive Officer (CEO) and former Auditor-General Dr Terence Nombembe is the Chairperson and 4 Africa Exchange CEO Advocate Fariyal Mukaddam is his deputy.
The council will make recommendations to the Executive Council (Exco) and Legislature’s Integrity Commissioner on appropriate measures and actions to enhance ethics, integrity and accountability in the public sector.
The roles and responsibilities include:
• Monitoring trends in integrity and corruption. • Actively collaborating with stakeholders who can assist the council in the execution of its responsibilities.
Advising the Premier and Exco on appropriate action to be taken.
Monitoring the adequacy and effectiveness of initiatives undertaken by the Premier and Exco. Reporting annually on the state of ethics, integrity and clean governance in the Gauteng City Region. Promoting activism and public campaigns among citizens on rule of law, ethics, integrity and accountability in public and private sector organisations. Nombembe said collaborative advocacy and mobilisation needs to include a well-functioning judicial system and a public financial system free of corrupt practices, with transparency in the flow of funds, revenues and disbursements.
He said it is essential that the process be accompanied by regulatory agencies and auditors who operate independently, professionally and with adequate resources.
Collaborative advocacy and mobilisation requires members of the council to join hands and put concrete plans in place to fight corruption.
“This will lead to a much-needed increase of trust in public institutions, sustained economic growth and increased foreign direct investment. No doubt, upholding integrity in public governance is very important for any nation to develop, however each of us need to acknowledge that individually and through the organisations we represent we can make a significant contribution to change,” he said.
Promoting NDP goals
“At this point in time, the council needs to ensure that it establishes a model or the mechanism that will be used as a methodology to root out corruption and promote the National Development Plan’s (NDP) integrity goals,” said Nombembe.
He believes that one of the main challenges the NDP seeks to address is the high level of corruption which has the greatest impact on the poorest in the country.
“The NDP envisions that by 2030 the language in South Africa should shift from fighting corruption to increasing integrity – from a reactive approach to a more proactive approach. It proposes a zero-tolerance approach to corruption,” noted Nombembe.
He said the council must establish whether its starting point will be to measure the level of integrity or level of corruption in the province, and which is the dominant one.
“What is important here is that we have got to elevate excellence where excellence is demonstrated so that we do not tend to be negative all the time. We will work hard to highlight those areas of excellence, whether it is in government or society.”
“I am hoping that we are not going to be inundated with a lot of complaints. I am hoping that this whole process will be based on the sharing of experiences, not complaints. We are not an executive structure and we will definitely never have the capacity for investigation, ours is to track and be vigilant in sourcing the reality of what we talk about regarding corruption and integrity,” said Nombembe.
He said the council will have the responsibility of ensuring that complaints are dealt with when raised, but will not directly be able to act against those who break the law.
Besides working with members of the public, the council also considers all spheres of government
and the business community as its stakeholders.
Giving a voice to citizens
The establishment of the advisory council is one of the Premier’s ambitions to give ordinary citizens and civil society a voice in reversing the frontiers of corruption, said Nombembe.
He said the council’s role is to ensure that it echoes these voices
“We will … have to make sure that those members who are represented by those sitting at that table are given an opportunity to participate actively in this process.”
Nombembe also highlighted the need to understand
the impact that corruption has on the average citizen.
“The authentic voice of the primary victims of corruption is the one that has to be elevated here, so we do not talk about broad perception but episodes or incidents of corrupt activities and how to reverse these,” he said.
The council is expected to start its work soon and will be reporting to the Premier annually. It will also use the media to teach the public about ethics, fraud and corruption through various campaigns. Nombembe said the council could say its work has been completed once it had helped stop corruption and sustains integrity in the province.
If the council proves to be a success, it should be rolled out to other provinces, he added.
Other members of the council include:
• Nkululeko Leadership Consulting CEO Nonkululeko Gobodo.
• Gauteng Chairperson of the South African NGO Coalition Puseletso Madumise. • Executive Director of Corruption Watch David Lewis.
• The Ethics Institute CEO Professor Deon Rossouw.
• Moral Regeneration Movement Chairperson Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa. • General Secretary of the Federation of Unions of South Africa Dennis George. • Gauteng Secretary of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union Lerata Joel Motsiri. • Professor Stella Nkomo of the University of Pretoria.