Abstract
“Our vision for 2030 is a South Africa that has zero tolerance for corruption.” This quote emanates from the National Development Plan 2030 (NDP), introduced by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in 2012. With eight years left to reach the objectives for 2030, as set out in the NDP, it is doubtful whether this vision will become a reality.
The review of the NDP indicated that corruption had ruined the trust on which social cohesion and national involvement are built. Without trust and social cohesion, the NDP cannot be implemented, and nation-building cannot take place. Consequently, the continued high levels of corruption may ruin the anti-corruption plan and the entire NDP.
However, one of the four recommendations from the NDP to build a resilient anti-corruption structure is to strengthen the current multi-agency approach. This article aims to determine whether this objective will be achieved by 2030 and whether only strengthening the current approach is satisfactory to fulfil the plan by 2030. This analysis will contribute to the existing literature as very little information on reaching the NDP’s targets relating to anti-corruption strategies could be found. The NDP is a reflection of the future of anti-corruption strategies and it should therefore consider and continually revise its targets to ensure that South Africa has a resilient anti-corruption structure.
Analysing the underlying targets of strengthening the current multi-agency approach is critical in the process of building a resilient anti-corruption strategy. Chapter 14 of the NDP deals specifically with fighting corruption. One of the four singled-out areas of this chapter is to build a resilient anti-corruption system by strengthening the multi-agency anti-corruption system. In order to achieve the aforementioned, the NDP proposes that four matters should be considered: 1) the multi-agency versus the single-agency approach; 2) increasing the specialist resources of the current anti-corruption agencies; 3) public education and reporting on corruption in the country; and 4) political will together with sufficient support. This article analyses these four objectives in order to address the research question: Can the objectives be met only by strengthening the multi-agency approach?
Previous research conducted explored four different anti-corruption strategies exercised in Hong Kong, Singapore, New South Wales and the United States of America with a view to lay the foundation of a national anti-corruption model for serious consideration that might improve the effectiveness of anti-corruption strategies in South Africa. This was followed by an analysis of South Africa’s ten predominant anti-corruption units and it was determined that it is worth considering establishing a centralised unit due to its effectiveness proven abroad as well as to address the weaknesses in the current policies. This article attempts to analyse the future plan for anti-corruption strategies in South Africa and whether it will be accomplished. This will be determined on the basis that previous research conducted indicated that anti-corruption strategies are ineffective and malfunctional which emphasise the urgent need for intervention and development.
The NDP offers a long-term perspective for South Africa through 15 different chapters with an overarching aim to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality. A review of the plan was formulated in 2020, which examined the progress made towards the NDP’s critical targets established in 2012. However, the review only repeated what was already established about corruption in the NDP and did not elaborate on the time left to reach the targets and these targets not being reached. However, throughout the review document, corruption is labelled as part of the main impediments that hinder the country’s progress towards the outcomes of the plan. Miriam Altman, an economist and commissioner of the NDP, supported the plan’s review document and concluded that corruption is one of the reasons why there is no significant improvement in implementing the NDP’s targets. With most of the critical objectives of the overarching plan not being prioritised, the country suffers from damage that could have been avoided. Therefore, based on crucial targets that have not been met, the idyllic picture conveyed through the plan may not be realised on time.
Ironically, since the establishment of this plan, corruption has intensified, with state capture estimated at R1,5 trillion, which is essentially a third of South Africa’s gross domestic product of R4,9 trillion. Essentially, it is equal to destroying four months’ worth of labour and productivity of all South Africans. The Corruption Perceptions Index, a leading global indicator of public sector corruption, indicated that South Africa improved by one point from a score of 43/100 in 2012 to 44/100 in 2020. It clearly shows no significant improvement or decline in South Africa’s score in the past eight years. This ranking also suggests a failure of government efforts to reduce the root causes of corruption, indicating the ineffectiveness of the anti-corruption strategy.
This research found that the plan’s vision towards strengthening the multi-agency approach is not yet a reality. If South Africa continues to manage the anti-corruption function as it is currently doing, this vision and other anti-corruption strategies will not manifest. This paper argues that strengthening the multi-agency model to build a resilient anti-corruption strategy will not be enough to reach the NDP’s objectives by 2030. It became evident that South Africa has the most astonishing plans and strategies on paper for an effective anti-corruption model but struggles to demonstrate its implementation. It is suggested that a new approach, combining already existing agencies with a centralised unit, must be considered instead of attempting to strengthen dysfunctional anti-corruption policies.
Furthermore, this research found that of the four strategies for strengthening the multi-agency approach in order to build a resilient anti-corruption structure, the only one with some progression to reach the objective was strengthening public education and reporting lines. Ironically, this has been done by an NGO, Corruption Watch, as the National Anti-Corruption Hotline is restricted due to a lack of resources and funding. Furthermore, the controversial debate over the multi- or single-agency approach is still ongoing. Due to the ineffectiveness of the current approach and similar to the medium-term anti-corruption framework and the NDP review, it is suggested that an overarching single-agency unit is established. Its primary mandate should be to fight corruption and coordinate the entire anti-corruption function. However, the lack of skills, expertise and political will is still noticeable as it is described as the most significant impediment of the failing anti-corruption structure.
The article concludes that only strengthening the current approach will not be enough to reach the objectives because from the start, South Africa did not effectively implement the multi-agency approach. Also, despite not achieving these objectives of strengthening the multi-agency approach, not much progress has been made to reach them by 2030. Consequently, with a dysfunctional anti-corruption system and little or no progress towards the objectives of the plan, the targets will not be reached by 2030.
The article proposes that South Africa needs to fight corruption from a new perspective: a single-agency perspective. The Zondo Commission has shown what successes can be achieved by pooling the necessary skills into the commission together with a strong political will to give effect to the commission’s mandate in an attempt to start a good fight against corruption.
Keywords: anti-corruption strategies; expertise; independence; multi-agency approach; political will; public education; single-agency approach
- Featured image: Izak de Vries
Lees die volledige artikel in Afrikaans
Die toekoms van teenkorrupsiestrategieë in Suid-Afrika: die Nasionale Ontwikkelingsplan 2030