Global Forum on fighting corruption and
Safeguarding Integrity II
30 May 2001
Chairperson
Honourable Ministers
Your Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the Government
of the Netherlands for the very successful Global Forum on
Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity. I am also
grateful for the opportunity to present the results achieved
by South Africa in our fight against corruption and to share
with you our latest developments. I should add that we have
progressed well, but being in this eminent congregation of
countries, expertise and goodwill make us realize how much
we still need to do. Thus I will humbly share our
experience.
Our country, South Africa, is a new democracy established in
1994. But we have a history that is complex. For decades the
country was subjected to a politically corrupt and immoral
regime and this regime caused lasting and structural
inequalities. Its legacy and obstacles are complex issues to
address. One such legacy is corruption.
To understand our approach to fighting corruption it is
important to also understand that we have a proud history of
mobilising ordinary citizens, civil society and
international communities to fight the previous corrupt
regime. So, fundamental to our approach to fighting
corruption is to again mobilise ordinary citizens, civil
society and the international community.
So, what has South Africa done to date?
In 1997, the executive leadership of our country initiated a
rolling campaign against corruption that culminated in a
National Anti-corruption Summit for all stakeholders in the
country in April 1999. Broadly we categorise all these
stakeholders as the Public, Business and Civil Society
Sectors. The Sectors collectively established our platform
for further work by recognising that the Sectors have
individual and collective responsibilities to fight the
societal problem of corruption.
After a year of intense negotiation the Sectors agreed to
establish the National Anti-corruption Forum in which each
of the Sectors have 10 representatives. The objectives of
the Forum to be established on 15 June this year are to-
-
Establish a national consensus through the coordination of
sectoral anti-corruption strategies,
- Advise Government on the implementation of strategies to
combat corruption,
- Share information and best practice on sectoral
anti-corruption work and
- Advise each other on the improvement of sectoral
anti-corruption strategies.
The fundamental approach of the Forum is that Sectors need
to address corruption in sectoral specific ways, but that
coordination and integration of the sectoral strategies are
required to support a national anti-corruption strategy. The
national anti-corruption strategy then also caters for those
activities residing with the State, such as establishing
legislation, the judiciary and implementation of
international instruments.
South Africa has strong political commitment to fight
corruption, both in our political leadership and through
collective civil mobilisation. We have a range of
legislation, including legislation that criminalises
corruption, protects whistleblowers and witnesses, provides
access to information to ordinary citizens, legislation for
special commissions and tribunals, legislation to recover
the proceeds of crimes, including corruption, a well as
legislation dealing with international cooperation in
criminal matters.
We have independent institutions that fight corruption,
namely the Auditor-General, Public Protector and the Public
Service Commission, and we have a well-functioning criminal
justice system. We are constantly developing our management,
accountability and internal control arrangements, including
performance, employment and procurement policies. We have
codes for conduct and codes that deal with breaches of
conduct. You will note that we have elements of just about
every good practice example.
However, South Africa’s national Executive recently
instructed the Public Service to develop a revised and
improved Public Sector Anti-corruption Strategy. This
revised strategy must, amongst other dictates, make the
institutions fighting corruption and promoting transparency
more efficient. Accordingly a process has commenced to
review corruption and related legislation in order to-
-
Extend the scope of the legislation to all sectors
- Minimise the fragmentation of the legislation
- Improve elements of detection, prevention, investigation
- Improve capabilities to address corruption on
administrative, criminal, civil and recovery levels, and
- Lastly, introduce prohibitions on corrupt individuals and
businesses.
The emerging revised Public Sector Anti-corruption Strategy
will be supported by intensive education, training and
awareness activities.
Importantly, the revised legislation must accommodate our
regional commitments a well as those emerging from other
international forums such as this one. You may be aware of
three significant developments in this area:
- In February this year, African Public Service Ministers
issued the Windhoek Declaration and adopted the Charter for
the Public Service in Africa. The Charter commits the
signatories to establishing professional and ethical values
in our regional public services and it requires the
establishment of a monitoring system for the implementation
of the Charter.
- On July 28, 2000, in Lusaka, the Legal sector of the
Southern African Development Community considered and
approved a draft SADC Protocol against Corruption. Later
this year heads of State of our Community will finally
consider this Protocol for adoption and implementation. We
firmly believe that regional instruments such as these form
the foundation of international cooperation, especially for
legal cooperation and exchange of good practice and
information.
- South Africa is a signatory to the UN Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime (the "Palermo Convention") and
efforts are underway to speed its ratification. Provisions
regarding corruption as contained in this Convention, while
mostly already captured in domestic legislation, will furter
the development of adequate anti-corruption legislation.
South Africa fully participated in the preparations for and
adoption of the Palermo Convention. Furthermore, South
Africa in the last week of March hosted a joint SADC-Office
for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) Regional
Meeting of the Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General on
the ratification of the Palermo Convention.
We are appreciative of the technical and donor assistance
for its anti-corruption work. On the 9th of March this year,
South Africa also became an active participant of the Global
Programme against Corruption. In terms of our partnership
agreement with the ODCCP, South Africa will this year
conduct a thorough country corruption assessment. Other
outputs will include the formulation of our national
anti-corruption strategy and supporting legislation, in
collaboration with our partners of the National
Anti-corruption Forum that I referred to earlier in my
statement.
The country assessment leads me to a point that is of great
concern to our country and our region, and I believe also to
other regions. Consensus on the value of corruption
perception indicators does not exist. Often these indicators
form the basis of judgmental statements and investment
decisions. You will realize that such uninformed decisions
can have dire consequences for the emerging economies and
integrity levels of countries. We urge all countries to
promote the development of a consensus on the indicators
used for measuring corruption. We will do so.
Let me now turn to the Global Forum. The Global Forum has
provided an excellent opportunity to exchange information
and to establish further partnerships with other countries,
Civil Society and the media. I wish also to express our
support for the development of an international instrument
against corruption proposed by the United Nations’ General
Assembly and the progress towards this ideal that has been
provided through the Forum. Furthermore, we believe that the
declaration emanating from this Forum will sufficiently
accommodate our concerns and needs, as well as that it will
remain an inspiration to our domestic initiatives.
Thank you.
Issued by the Public Service Commission, 30 May 2001
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