5 000 Cases of Alleged Corruption in SA Government

Government has hit back at claims by the Public Service Commission (PSC) that it was riddled with corruption, arguing that there had been a decline in graft among state employees.

Public Service and Administration director-general Richard Levin said there had been a decrease in the public's perception of corruption.

"Our experience of corruption is that it is marginally on the decline," he said, adding, "the public sector is no more unethical or corrupt than the rest of society is", he said.

He argued that this was largely because the government had set tougher standards for itself than it did for its partners in the private and corporate sectors.

Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi argued that the government's multi-sectoral approach to fighting corruption had contributed to anti-corruption reforms.

Fraser-Moleketi and Levin were responding to a revelation by PSC chairperson Professor Stan Sangweni that corruption had increased over the past few years.

Speaking at the start of the third Anti-Corruption Summit in Boksburg, Sangweni said the country had failed to eliminate or even reduce the scourge of corruption as he had predicted when he launched the first National Anti-Corruption Summit in 1999.

"From where I sit, there are 5 000 cases of alleged corruption in national and local government structures," he said.

These charges range from abuse of telephones to irregular purchasing agreements and claims amounting to millions of rands, he said.

"And the rate of competent investigations is dismally low."

It was noted, however, that corruption was equally rife within the corporate world where investigations had uncovered food price fixing and pension fund scams.

President of the Federation of Democratic Unions of South Africa, Mary Malete, said the poor were often ignored in favour of those well-connected to government officials when it came to lucrative tenders. "This is also corruption," she said.