LETTER: Eliminate the rewards of corruption and you eliminate corruption
SA’s political culture, system and institutions necessitate corruption
24 October 2022 - 16:32
byNicholas Woode-Smith
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President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the Investigative Directorate (ID) will become a permanent corruption investigation and elimination entity is of course welcome, but will be insufficient in tackling corruption ("Corruption-busting unit to be permanent, Ramaphosa tells the nation”,October 23).
Corruption is often seen as the primary evil and sole cause of SA’s strife, but it causes swathes of other problems. It erodes trust in institutions, results in an untold amount of theft and wastage, and leads to the breakdown of services and utilities. But even so corruption is merely a symptom of inherent and structural problems. No government agency devoted to fighting corruption will ever truly eliminate it while the causes of corruption are still present.
SA’s political culture, system and institutions necessitate corruption. As a result of ideology and greed, politicians have shaped a system based on the simple extraction of wealth. Rather than implementing policies that ensure sustainable development and wealth creation, SA’s political culture of redistribution and expropriation has led to a system where politicians feel entitled to be corrupt.
And the laws enable them. The tendering system is broken and should be completely reformed. Parastatals are a black hole wherein taxpayers’ money is wasted on ineptitude and the corrupt officials that are drawn to such institutions like moths to a flame. When the corrupt are given access to wealth, they will be corrupt.
The more money we allow government to get its hands on, and the more we entertain an ideology of redistribution and wealth extraction, the worse our country’s corruption will get. Rather, we should be embracing deregulation, privatisation (along decentralised and transparent lines), and an ideology of free markets.
Eliminate the rewards of corruption and you eliminate corruption. Simple as that.
Nicholas Woode-Smith Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Eliminate the rewards of corruption and you eliminate corruption
SA’s political culture, system and institutions necessitate corruption
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the Investigative Directorate (ID) will become a permanent corruption investigation and elimination entity is of course welcome, but will be insufficient in tackling corruption ("Corruption-busting unit to be permanent, Ramaphosa tells the nation”, October 23).
Corruption is often seen as the primary evil and sole cause of SA’s strife, but it causes swathes of other problems. It erodes trust in institutions, results in an untold amount of theft and wastage, and leads to the breakdown of services and utilities. But even so corruption is merely a symptom of inherent and structural problems. No government agency devoted to fighting corruption will ever truly eliminate it while the causes of corruption are still present.
SA’s political culture, system and institutions necessitate corruption. As a result of ideology and greed, politicians have shaped a system based on the simple extraction of wealth. Rather than implementing policies that ensure sustainable development and wealth creation, SA’s political culture of redistribution and expropriation has led to a system where politicians feel entitled to be corrupt.
And the laws enable them. The tendering system is broken and should be completely reformed. Parastatals are a black hole wherein taxpayers’ money is wasted on ineptitude and the corrupt officials that are drawn to such institutions like moths to a flame. When the corrupt are given access to wealth, they will be corrupt.
The more money we allow government to get its hands on, and the more we entertain an ideology of redistribution and wealth extraction, the worse our country’s corruption will get. Rather, we should be embracing deregulation, privatisation (along decentralised and transparent lines), and an ideology of free markets.
Eliminate the rewards of corruption and you eliminate corruption. Simple as that.
Nicholas Woode-Smith
Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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