Cape Argus E-dition

Too afraid to report corruption

THABO MAKWAKWA AND KAILENE PILLAY

HUMAN rights activist and violence monitor Dr Mary De Haas said corruption would continue uninterrupted because while many people were willing to talk, many others were afraid because they were not protected.

De Haas was reacting to the Analysis of Corruption Trends (Act) report released yesterday by Corruption Watch, which revealed the large extent to which corruption had continued unabated during the first half of this year.

To date, up to 1 964 whistle-blowers reported acts of corruption in both the public and private sectors.

The report indicated that while South Africans were desperate to be protected, numerous complaints received from the public showed corruption still ruled the day.

Corruption Watch researcher Melusi Ncala, who penned the report, said the organisation noticed similar trends over the years where common types of corruption ranged from maladministration, dodgy procurement deals, fraud, and abuse of authority.

This, he said, suggested that efforts by the public and private sectors to seriously address the scourge of corruption in South Africa were “woefully inadequate”.

“The impact on the majority of people in the country of this failure to act cannot be underestimated, as they continue to be denied access to basic rights and services, and deprived of much-needed protection,” Ncala said.

He also highlighted that whistle-blowers were living in a severely hostile environment, following the murder of Gauteng government official Babita Deokaran last month.

Deokaran, formerly from Durban, was a witness in the Special Investigating Unit’s personal protection equipment (PPE) corruption investigation that has dogged the provincial health department since 2020.

“The vulnerability of whistle-blowers in South Africa needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, if there is to be any meaningful shift in the efforts to eradicate corruption,” Ncala said.

METRO

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2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

http://capeargus.pressreader.com/article/281629603413541

African News Agency