Be part of the change, reject corruption

In 2011 the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution said that an estimated 20% of the country’s annual GDP is lost to corruption. 

Willie Hofmeyr, former head of the now disbanded Scorpions, reported to Parliament in 2011 that between R25bn and R30bn disappeared from the state’s coffers to shady dealings.  

For the communities that fall in the triple threats - poverty, inequality, and unemployment - they are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to getting any interest from government.

With reports of corruption and poor service delivery hitting the press on a regular basis, have we become complacent to just accept what we are being dealt?

This past Monday I witnessed a community take to the streets blaming corruption as the reason for the lack of housing development. It is not the first time Mariannridge residents have gone on lockdown, hoping their voices will be heard by the decisions makers.

One would think that asking for housing is a fair reason to protest. Same way one would think to ask for quality education, affordable electricity, or even running water is a reasonable explanation for protests.

What makes it more frightening to witness is how these people are treated by law enforcement.

We have seen many documented occurrences of police brutality and excessive use of force.

Are we not united in the fight to eradicate corruption? Are we not together in the fight to see people getting decent service delivery? How does one justify shooting children, going into people's homes and dragging them out or teargassing them?

Addressing more than 1 500 supporters after visiting detained #FeesMustFall leader Bonginkosi Khanyile at the Westville Correctional Service Centre, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema said everything in the province of KwaZulu-Natal “smelled of President Jacob Zuma" and corruption. Actually Juju, everything in South Africa smells of President Jacob Zuma and corruption.

In an open letter to the National Executive Committee of the ANC, veterans and stalwarts of the ANC said: To quote Comrade Andrew Mlangeni “Our hearts are broken” as we watch some in the leadership of our Movement – undoubtedly a dominant group within the leadership – abrogate to themselves the power of the State to serve their own self-interests rather than the interests of the people of South Africa.

If people within the ruling party are pointing out the corruption, how can the rest of us turn a blind eye?

This week ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was chased from Marikana as she and her entourage arrived to lay a wreath.

Dlamini-Zuma intended to lay a wreath in Marikana at the koppie where 34 miners were gunned down in 2012, but some residents want nothing to do with the African National Congress. Can we blame them?

The community says the ANC has done nothing to ensure the correct people are held to account for the massacre. They said in the last five years, Dlamini Zuma and the ANC have never set foot on the koppie.

With the #FeesMustFall protests we saw that corruption has no age.  National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) grants, in particular, have been highly affected by corruption. Members of student representative councils (SRCs) have been accused of partaking in corrupt activity, some even arrested for their participation.

In January Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande conceded that ‘there is corruption in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which has led to some students not receiving their tertiary funding’.

Indeed corruption does warrant our worry. There seems to be a sense of complacency that nothing can be done about it. Getting through a road block, obtaining a driver’s license or passports, tenders, teaching posts, municipal jobs, using public money for personal needs… the list of where corruption rears its ugly head is endless.

Student activist in the Fees Must Fall Movement, Rashaad Yusuf Dadoo, said: “Corruption plays a more direct role in #FMF,” and states that “the argument of ‘not enough money’ by the ruling powers becomes insufficient when millions are lost to corruption by those people.” He adds: “The more corrupt the government, the more reason people have to resist.”

In 2016, Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ANC, said that one of the three things that will destroy the ANC is corruption.

Widespread corruption is a sign of a failing state. It negatively affects service delivery at local and national level.

As a country, we must reject corruption. Come 2019 we must stand together and have these bad seeds removed. It’s not going to happen without some form of action from you and me. You will have to make your mark. It doesn’t have anything to do with you – it has EVERYTHING to do with you.