Pan-African declaration issued on corruption – The Mail & Guardian
/ 2 March 2007

Pan-African declaration issued on corruption

A three-day pan-African conference adopted the Ekurhuleni Declaration on Fighting Corruption at a venue near OR Tambo International Airport, east of Johannesburg, on Friday.

South African Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said the declaration will contribute to Africa’s input to the Global Forum V, scheduled to be held in Sandton next month.

The April meeting will focus on fighting corruption and safeguarding integrity. It is expected to attract delegates from 100 countries.

Referring to this week’s meeting, Fraser-Moleketi said: ”One of the most significant contributions this forum has made to the discourse on corruption is our insistence on rooting our fight against all forms of corruption in a value system that draws on traditional communal and egalitarian values and on democratic values.”

Delegates agreed that corruption is a global phenomenon, rooted in history.

”But its contemporary manifestations must be located in an understanding of colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalisation.

”We have agreed that it is far more useful in developing a common understanding of corruption to focus on the interface between politics and economics,” she said.

”A broader conception of corruption must recognise that corrupt practices take place in the interface between the public sector, the private sector and even the civil-society sector.”

A topic that received much attention at this week’s conference was the repatriation of ill-gotten assets to Africa from Western financial institutions.

Professor Okey Onyejekwe, representing the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, said this includes the issue of asking certain parties to implement what had been agreed on in the past.

Asked whether the topic of Chinese-Africa trade came up, Emile Ognimba, representing the African Union, told a press conference that the conference would not be the right context for discussion.

”The cooperation between China and Africa is considered by leaders to be a good example of cooperation,” he said. — Sapa