Graft killing SA, says retail chief

S OUTH Africa experienced a “precipitous slide” in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index since 2007 and faced the prospect of becoming one of the world’s most corrupt nations.

This was the warning yesterday of Nigel Payne, the chairman of the Mr Price Group, who unleashed a scathing attack on corruption in the government.

Speaking to more than 1 300 delegates at the SA Council of Shopping Centres annual congress in Durban, he said it was time for South Africans to become angry about corruption. He said it was crippling the country, and firm leadership was needed to stop it from getting worse.

“The declining trend in the Transparency International index does not look great,” said Payne. “In fact, it is scary for SA and almost extreme. The index has a 10-point scoring system… SA dropped from a rating of 4.5 in 2010 to 4.1 in 2011. In 2007, we had a rating of 5.1, and this is a precipitous slide for any country to have.”

He said this was SA’s lowest rating since the index was started 17 years ago. Once the rating went below four, SA was heading for “failed state” status where corruption was part of daily life and resulted in more civil protests.

“We can’t afford to let that happen because… things can deteriorate rapidly into an ‘Arab Spring’ or failed state.”

He said SA had always been rated in the four-to-six zone of the index – the zone of “uncertainty” into which most countries fell. Countries rated above six were in the so-called “premier league”, where “society squeezes out corruption”, and which SA should aspire to join.

In the past three years SA had seen a service protest somewhere in the country almost every day. In many cases it had been a direct result of some kind of corruption.

However, there were heroes doing a fantastic job in the government, such as AuditorGeneral Terence Nombembe and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela. Also, there were outspoken leaders such as Mamphela Ramphele, Desmond Tutu and Nedbank chairman Reuel Khoza.

“Corruption is no longer someone else’s problem,” said Payne. “We need an intervention to salvage a future for SA. It is time we get p***ed off about corruption. We must put away the race card. This is about our people… We must create an environment hostile to corruption.”