Wonder Hlongwa
South Africa’s branch of the international corruption watchdog Transparency International has accused certain newspapers of feeding public perceptions that corruption increased after the African National Congress took power.
In its first report since its inception last year, Transparency International South Africa (Tisa) accuses the newspapers of being influenced by their political agendas.
It singled out the Pretoria News, Volksblad and The Citizen for “extraordinarily” linking corruption to the public sector while ignoring the private sector.
“[They] were above average in linking their reported corruption cases to the public sector. In contrast, newspapers like The Star and the Sunday Times reported less cases linked to the public sector and more to the private sector,” the Tisa report reads.
The report aims to increase public understanding of the problem of corruption, enrich responsible and constructive public discourse and assist in developing steps to address corruption in the country.
“We are challenging the popular and dominant understanding that corruption only takes place in the public sector or interface with the public sector. Corruption is a broad and complex societal issue,” reads the report.
A senior researcher from the Community Agency for Social Equity, Florencia Belvedere – commissioned by Tisa to do the research – says the embezzlement of funds by public servants is the focus of media reports, ignoring bigger white- collar crime in the private sector.
“This serves to show that political agendas can influence how corruption is reported,” Belvedere says.
The research recorded that 43% of corruption occurred in the national government and 32% in provinces, with Mpumalanga as the leading region, followed by Gauteng. More than half of the reported corruption involves fraud, followed by mismanagement, nepotism, bribery, theft and money laundering.
Tisa suggests attention needs to be directed at tackling corruption at its structural bases. Government should have regular audits, make people accountable in using public funds and there should be skills training, because some people are not competent in handling public funds, says Belvedere.
Transparency International is a German organisation which established a branch in South Africa under the leadership of Dr Beyers Naud. Its South African patrons include the Speaker of the National Assembly, Frene Ginwala, president of the Development Bank of Southern Africa Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, and CEO for the Council of South African Banks, Bob Tucker.
ENDS