At That Point
  • home
  • our story
  • our services
  • your resources
  • SA Industry News

IoDSA’s views on government’s anti-corruption programme

24/2/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Ramaphosa emphasised the deep negative impact of corruption on the country’s growth and development, with specific reference to the shocking revelations emerging from the Zondo Commission. The President noted that good progress had been made in rebuilding the law-enforcement bodies, and the implementation of a National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

“South Africans need no reminding that corruption is a cancer that is destroying the fabric of our society, and the recent scandals relating to the procurement of personal protective equipment have driven home how brazen the looting has become. But, at the same time, society is cynical about government’s political will truly to bring malefactors to book,” argues Parmi Natesan, CEO of the Institute of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA).

“Accountability is critical to rebuilding trust in the institutions of state and in government itself. It’s critical that the Anti-Corruption Strategy works and is seen to work.”

The IoDSA urges that government needs to consider the following in order to ensure its anti-corruption strategy actually works:

Is it well designed? “It’s important the programme is aligned with legal requirements and stakeholder expectations—it must deliver accountability in line with what long-suffering citizens want,” she explains. “Equally important, the programme must focus on the key risks to ensure maximum impact, and its results must be rigorously measured and reported. Transparency is the twin sister of ethics and accountability.”

Is it being applied in good faith? With the greatest respect, it is easy to set up initiatives but only few actually deliver. Adequate resourcing and a record of swift action taken against corrupt individuals indicate good faith. It must also be clear that initiatives are in place to make ethical behaviour the default setting across government. These would include a visible commitment to ethical behaviour at the highest echelons of government, comprehensive training throughout the organisation and a well-communicated anti-corruption policy. In a sense, government is the board of South Africa Inc, and so is responsible for setting the “tone at the top” and driving it down throughout the country.

Does it work? Any programme is only so good as its results. Government must commit to actively monitoring how well its anti-corruption programme is working based on a consistent set of metrics, one of which should be the incidence of corruption both in terms of value and number of incidents. “Government needs to ensure not only that that monitoring takes place, but that it reviews the results regularly to identify and remediate any gaps,” Ms Natesan notes.

It’s worth reminding ourselves of how serious the consequences of corruption and unethical practices are. They include lack of societal service delivery, and reputational damage to the country and the government, as well as their leaders.

From a governance perspective, corruption is essentially the opposite of good corporate governance i.e. ethical and effective leadership.

“A corrupt country will find it hard to attract foreign direct investment, inhibiting the growth of a tax base government can use to fund social-upliftment projects. Civil claims by parties who suffered loss as a result of corruption are also a possibility,” Ms Natesan concludes. “Of course, individuals convicted of corruption could face criminal charges as well.”

​ENDS


MEDIA CONTACT: Stephné du Toit, 084 587 9933, [email protected],  www.atthatpoint.co.za
For more information on the IoDSA please visit:
Website:  www.iodsa.co.za
Twitter:  @The_IoDSA
LinkedIn:  Institute of Directors in South Africa Company Page  
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome to the IoDSA Newsroom.
    IN THE MEDIA

    2023
    ​

    2 March
    Financial Mail: 5572bb70-29ab-48f8-b5df-79c7bb7f27dc.pdfIN 


    Archives

    May 2025
    February 2025
    November 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    702 Sun International CEO SleepOut™
    ABSA
    Accountability
    ACGN
    Advocate Fay Mukaddam
    Africa
    African Governance Showcase
    AGM
    Alex Granger
    Angela Cherrington
    Angela Oosthuizen
    Ansie Ramahlo
    Ansie Ramalho
    Audit Committees
    Auditor General
    Board
    Board Meeting
    Boards
    Budget
    Business
    CD(SA)
    Central Energy Fund
    CEO
    CEO Tenure
    Certified Director
    Chairman
    Chartered Director
    CIPC
    City Of Johannesburg
    Clover
    Companies Act
    COO
    Corporate Governance
    Corruption
    Cricket SA
    Delinquent Directors
    Director
    Directors
    Directors' Sentiment Index Report
    Disclosure
    Discrimination
    Dudu Myeni
    Economic Growth
    Eskom
    Eskom Board
    Ethics
    Executive Pay
    EY
    Fair Pay
    FEDSAS
    Fraud And Corruption
    Governance
    Governing Bodies
    Gupta
    Huge Group
    Institute Of Directors In South Africa
    Integrated Reporting
    IoDSA
    Johannesburg Property Company
    Karin Ireton
    King Code Of Corporate Governance
    King IV
    KingIV
    King IV Launch Conference
    Leadership
    Local Elections
    Management
    Mervyn King
    Mid-term Budget 2021
    Mini-budget 2021
    Municipalities
    Non-Executive Directors’ Fees Guide
    North West Cricket
    Parmi Natesan
    Politics
    Professionalising Directorship
    Property
    Public Sector Boards
    Ray Harraway
    Remuneration
    Remuneration Committee Forum
    Richard Foster
    SAA
    SABC
    SA Express
    SAPO
    School Governing Bodies (SGB)
    Service Delivery
    Shareholders
    Sikkie Kajee
    SME Growth
    Social Inequality
    SOEs
    South African Airlines
    South African Airways
    South African Forestry Company
    Stakeholders
    State Capture
    State-owned Enterprises
    State-owned Entities
    Succession Planning
    Sustainability
    Sustainable Development Forum
    The Ethics Institute
    The Institute Of Directors South Africa
    Transnet
    Trends
    Tsakani Maluleke
    UCT
    Vikeshni Vandayar
    Women
    Women's Day
    Zondo Commission

    RSS Feed

CONTACT US

office [at] atthatpoint [dot] co [dot] za
© COPYRIGHT 2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
  • home
  • our story
  • our services
  • your resources
  • SA Industry News