Corruption appears to be rampant in the world today and it can be defined and categorized in different ways. The most common types or categories of corruption are supply versus demand corruption, grand versus petty corruption, conventional versus unconventional corruption, and public versus private corruption.
To highlight the cancer of corruption in South Africa today we reviewed a few daily articles and this is what we are dealing with:
- Recently NEHAWU embarked on an indefinite strike to protest against the wages and conditions of public health sector workers. But instead of being an action to advance human rights, it immediately led to a massive human rights and public health crisis. People were denied the right to healthcare services, sufficient food, dignity, and even life. Maverick Citizen, reported that through intimidation and thuggery, some hospitals had to close, wards were emptied of nurses, sick babies were left unattended, and patients were denied medicines, food and dignity. People died directly as a result of the strike.
- The Hawks have recently charged a former Free State attorney with fraud, saying that he accepted R21 000 to represent a man in a divorce matter even though he knew that he had been disbarred in 2018. The complainant allegedly approached the suspect for legal representation in his divorce matter and paid him R21 000. The suspect failed to inform the complainant that he was disbarred and, therefore, could not practice as an attorney.
- The health ombud has made damning findings against the leadership and staff of Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg, confirming claims that pregnant women were made to sleep on the floor. It was further alleged that the hospital’s chief executive had not worked full-time to ensure the facility functioned effectively. Ismail alleged that she had only spent 182 days at the hospital.
- The disgraced former Tshwane mayor, Murunwa Makwarela, has handed himself over to the Hawks in Pretoria and The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said that his arrest was linked to his submission of an allegedly fake insolvency clearance certificate being submitted to the City of Tshwane. He used the certificate, which he said was issued by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, to prove that he had the right to remain mayor of Tshwane. The law prohibits a person who has been declared insolvent from holding public office.
The list could continue for pages but what we can see here corruption is rife in both the public and private sector in South Africa and no person and company is immune to being a victim of corruption.
Just over eight in 10 people who responded to a nationally representative survey of middle-class homes are despondent about South Africa’s future.
And nine in 10 laid the blame squarely at the door of “corruption and criminality”, according to the SA Blackout Report by BrandMapp-Silverstone released this week.
What do we do? Many have already thrown their hands in the air and say what can we do?
At iFacts we firmly believe you never throw in the towel and we believe that a company can build an integrity conscious culture in an organization. Some of the steps to follow would include:
- Develop and education programme for employees and contractors to build resilience to integrity challenges;
- Create an environment of integrity with employees to ensure they buy-in to the process;
- Ensure the company dealings are integrity compliant;
- Reward integrity in the workplace;
- Appoint integrity ambassadors;
- Have an integrity officer;
- Introduce integrity assessments into the employment process.
“With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity, you will do the right thing, so you will have no guilt.” – Zig Ziglar