CORRUPT BEHAVIOUR
LUMKILE MONDI: Institutional integrity could salvage SA
Integrity could provide a platform for South Africans to build a new social contract for inclusive economic growth, eradication of poverty and reduction of inequality
The alleged accounting fraud at Steinhoff has been likened to state capture by those defending the corrupt South African state. Those sympathetic to the captured state have accused those concerned about corruption in the Zuma presidency of double standards for not voicing their discontent with Steinhoff. Parliament voiced its concern by inviting senior executives to the House, while the JSE and the Financial Services Board have launched separate investigations relating to disclosure and fraud. But how does an alleged accounting fraud in a single firm get compared to a failing state whose grade 4 children cannot read in their own language and where 13-million children live in poverty, 27.7% of South Africans are unemployed and inequality is widening because of the state’s policy choices and inaction?Seen through the eyes of political economist Joseph Shumpeter, the situation is characteristic of a capitalist society where turmoil signifies economic progress. Going inside the firm its...
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