Fake ”dead” people are costing South Africa’s life insurance industry R3-billion a year in false claims, Parliament’s public service and administration portfolio committee heard on Wednesday.
Members were being briefed by representatives from the civil society, business and public sectors of the National Anti-Corruption Forum.
Business representative Michael Denega told the committee one of the major impediments to combating fraud was the ”inability or reluctance” of some businesses to share information.
”Another problem is the reluctance to acknowledge the magnitude of the fraud and corruption problem in South Africa, and the practice of hiding fraud problems in bad debt provisions, for fear of shareholder backlash.”
Providing members with a selection of fraud statistics, Denega said 54% of all vehicles stolen in South Africa were re-registered by corrupt licensing department officials.
He further claimed that ”fake dead people are costing the South African life insurance industry R3-billion a year in false claims.”
”And the chamber of mines estimates that around 35 tons of gold a year is stolen from mines,” he said.
Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said South Africa needed to ”create a climate hostile to corrupt practise”.
Legislation government had passed, or planned to review, included the new Prevention of Corruption Bill, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, the Promotion of Access to Information Act and the Protected Disclosures Act.
”We (have) also established special courts to adjudicate on corruption cases, to promote the speedy resolution of high-profile cases.”
Fraser-Moleketi said government had established a central database of corrupt businesses, and departments had been barred from dealing with them.
She said government’s financial disclosure framework made it compulsory for senior managers to disclose their financial interests, as well as any gifts received above R350, in order to avoid conflicts of interest.
”Satisfactory co-operation was received from departments.
” However, as at January 31 of this year, 27% of managers had not submitted their financial disclosure forms.”
Civil society representative Hennie van Vuuren said his sector’s role in combating corruption could be measured by its contribution to policy discussions, as well as its research expertise and help in keeping the issue of corruption on the public agenda.
”In an ideal situation, civil society organisations act as watchdogs, but also attempt to engage with the public and private sectors concerning broader systemic approaches to combating corruption,” he said. – Sapa