Cosatu pleased with name and shame
2013-02-25 21:42
Cape Town - Plans to name and shame government officials
found guilty of corruption are a major step in the war against corruption,
Cosatu said on Monday.
"Making the names public will make potential
offenders think twice before ripping off their fellow South Africans if they know
that their family, friends and neighbours will find out what they have
done," Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement.
Cosatu also applauded the good progress the government's
anti-corruption task team had made since 2010.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe told journalists on Sunday
that 237 corrupt officials had been arrested in the past three years, and 32
had been convicted.
Only two had been acquitted and another 203 cases were
still before the courts.
The criminal assets of 59 people, to the value of R816m,
had already been frozen, and nearly R78m had been forfeited to the state.
The task team, working with the department of rural
development and land reform, had recovered three farms valued at R59m, which
were lost through acts of corruption.
A further five farms, valued at R74m, had been frozen and
should be recovered soon.
Craven said Cosatu hoped this momentum would be
maintained and that the tide of corruption and theft from the public purse had
finally been turned.
"We also hope that this new tough approach will not
be confined to public servants, but the business people they collaborate with
and also elected representatives at every level who are found guilty of
corruption or fraud."
Cosatu pledged to do everything possible to help the
minister publicise the names, and would work closely with Corruption Watch to
keep the government well-informed of allegations from Cosatu members and the
public, he said.
In his briefing on Sunday, Radebe said the officials
would be named and shamed so society would know who the "rotten
apples" were.
In the next few days, all the names of people who had
been convicted in cases of corruption, and all those whose assets had either
been frozen or forfeited to the state, would be published.
He said officials were "working out the
details" of whether to use electronic media, newspapers, radio or
television to publish the information.
"We want to ensure the public is conscious of what
has happened, because for some time, when people talk about corruption, it's
just a number. We now want to do this in a meaningful way," Radebe said.
- SAPA
