Experts Provide Real Solutions to Beating Corruption

25 June 2020

On Sunday I made the announcement that The People’s Dialogue was overwhelmed by the response of thousands of professionals who have volunteered to participate in our policy development process.

Last night we began the first of these policy engagements with experts in the field of forensics, fraud and corruption.

Involved in this discussion were people with 30 years of experience in anti-corruption units of the SAPS, independent forensic investigators, investigative journalists, lawyers with experience in corruption cases and financial forensic auditors.

The engagement that took place was astounding, demonstrating the value of solutions coming from experts and not career politicians. Just some of the proposed solutions emerging in this engagement included: 

Specialised, prosecutorial-style teams within the SAPS along the lines of those that were effective within the Scorpions.

Dedicated courts, dealing only with cases of government fraud and corruption, with expertise in legislation governing the public management of finances.

Legislative amendments that pave the way to elect representatives of the NPA at a district level, accountable to the public for prosecution rates and actions taken in response to cases.

The requirement for organisations to be appointed to scrutinise government expenditure and report to the public on the efficiency and legality of government expenditure.

A revision of legislation to remove political influence from the appointment of senior managers, and public oversight over such appointments.

Re-training of government employees to generate a sense of ethics, responsibility and pride in civil service.

These are merely a few of the proposals that emanated from the discussion last night. It is abundantly clear that our approach to engage experts on the biggest challenges in South Africa is the right approach.

It is clear that professionals, the likes of which we engaged last night, have the solutions, knowledge and experience to combat fraud, corruption and wrong doing in South Africa. Yet, they have been ignored or excluded from the process of tackling these challenges because there is no political will to tackle wrong doing.

In the coming days we will be engaging business owners both big and small, teachers, principals, academics, policemen and women to develop similar plans to fix our economy, education and our criminal justice system.

When we launch our new party in August this year, we will be able to table solutions to the challenges in South Africa that are practical, grounded in the views of experts and provide hope to the people of our country.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, Founder, The People’s Dialogue, 25 June 2020