Africa must address corruption

2005-03-22 15:00

Pretoria - Corruption was a scourge of development in Africa, Business Unity South Africa's Cas Coovadia told the second national anti-corruption conference in Pretoria on Tuesday.

It cost the continent in lost resources, investment, decision-making and public sentiment, he told hundreds of delegates from business, government and civil society.

Corruption was the top issue identified in 1999 by a selection of European Union and United States companies as a critical deterrent to investment.

As such, it could have a tremendous impact on social development, Coovadia said.

"As Africa, we should be concern about our continent and should be identifying problems on the continent so we can address them," he said.

Recommitting business to play a role in stamping out all pervasive corruption, Coovadia expressed his belief that the national anti-corruption forum - which is hosting the summit - was the right forum for a co-ordinated attack.

What was needed however, was an honest and frank assessment of its strength and weakness.

President Thabo Mbeki earlier said South Africa had to remain vigilant against new manifestations of corruption.

In his opening address to the conference, Mbeki added that South Africa's law enforcement capacity and legislative framework had to keep ahead of such new developments.

Addressing the conference at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's conference centre, he said the country had to continue to strengthen capacity in anti-corruption programmes and improve on the performance of the criminal justice system. he told government, business and civil society representatives.

The new Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act contained additional tools to fight corruption, including the encouragement of the public to record corruption and other crimes to the police and the establishment of a register of businesses that committed corrupt acts, especially in government procurement.

It remained a challenge to mobilise sources to prevent corruption and improve awareness and education programmes, said Mbeki.

Mbeki pointed out that at times corruption was a "handy label" used arbitrarily by commentators, politicians, media and those who have "one or another axe to grind".

He said the summit needed to understand why corruption levels were often measured on perceptions and why the media correctly reported on the incidents of corruption but not on steps taken to prevent and combat corruption.

- SAPA