Unisa online - Your NO counts - lifting the lid on corruption

From left: Dr Jonathan Lucas; Prof Sam Sangweni; Ms Koko Mashigo; Prof Jerry O Kuye & and Prof Mandla Makhanya display their copies of the Report of the 3rd National Anti-Corruption Summit of South Africa

''We must make a consolidated effort to say no to corruption,'' said Prof Mandla Makhanya, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, as he opened the celebration of International Anti-Corruption Day and the launch of the report of the 3rd National Anti-Corruption Summit of South Africa, held in the Senate Hall on the Muckleneuk Campus in December last year. International Anti-Corruption Day is celebrated annually in honour of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which was signed in Mexico on 9 December 2003. In terms of UNCAC, corruption is harmful to development and poses a threat to the security and stability of society. The event was a collaboration between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for Southern Africa (UNODC ROSAF); the Public Service Commission (PSC); and Unisa. After a message delivered by Dr Jonathan Lucas, the regional representative of UNODC ROSAF, Prof Sam Sangweni, Chairperson of the PSC, spoke on the promotion of integrity in the public service and some of the initiatives undertaken by the PSC in this regard, in particular, transparency, efficiency and the successes of the NAC Hotline.

Mr Khathu Mamaila, Editor of the City Press and Chairperson of the Media Freedom Panel of the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), spoke on the role of investigative journalism in uncovering corruption. Slender resources, a lack of journalistic expertise, gate-keeping or self-imposed censorship and a honeymoon mentality that does not want to criticise former comrades are some of the challenges facing the media in investigating corruption.

The last speaker, Ms Koko Mashigo, PSC Commissioner, looked at the management of gifts in the public service. The PSC feels that there are inconsistencies in the current legislation that governs the acceptance of gifts, and has recommended that it should be a criminal offence for public servants or anyone dealing with government to accept or give any gifts in the interests of creating an ethical and corruption-free public service. The PSC feels that the receipt of gifts by public servants tends to weaken citizens' trust in the public service and destroys the fibre of integrity, accountability and transparency.

The discussion sessions that followed were chaired by Prof Jerry O Kuye, Director and Chair: School of Public Management and Administration, University of Pretoria. He stressed that while there are very good policies in place, it is now necessary to strengthen the powers of implementation. Prof Mandla Makhanya also pointed out that corruption cannot take root if we stand up and say no; we need to raise awareness of corruption to such an extent that the promoters of corruption cannot thrive.

From left: Prof Mandla Makhanya; Dr Jonathan Lucas;
Ms Odette Ramsingh, Director-General of the Office of the Public Service Commission;
Prof Sam Sangweni & Prof Jerry O Kuye