LETTER: Bribery not motivated solely by greed and need

Krish Naidoo’s analysis of a “corrupt transaction” is thoroughly Western in that the briber and bribee are rational individuals factoring in chance, gains and state instruments (“How to stop plague of state corruption in its tracks”, January 26). The whole process in turn is propelled by “greed and need”.

But what if the motivations emanate from a quite different ethical system, one in which loyalty to extended family, and then to clan and tribe, always trump loyalty to employer or to batho pele in a modern-style state? What if filial pressure and censure are in fact the decisive psychological factors in the bribe decision? What if dignity and status are earned by parties to the bribe only when they employ their position of influence for the benefit of their “community”? What if certificates of honesty and performance, and of public service, don’t cut the mustard back home? 

Indeed, corruption is then no longer a function of income, or viewed negatively, but is really an aspect of entrepreneurialism. And the answer therefore is to eradicate all barriers to legitimate commercial initiative and entrepreneurialism, and to massively raise the barriers for entrepreneurialism arising from inside the state. At present, that is by far the less complicated and risky form of entrepreneurialism. That is the advice the ANC should be given most urgently.

Jens Kuhn
Via e-mail