'Don't exaggerate corruption'
2003-02-18 15:32
Cape Town - Care needs to be taken that South Africans do not "over-exaggerate" the extent of corruption in society, says John Jeffery, parliamentary counsellor to Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Referring to former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, who had been found
guilty of defrauding Parliament by not disclosing a discount he received on his motor vehicle, he noted that some MPs may be disappointed that he was not found guilty of corruption and specifically of unduly influencing the arms procurement process "but he was never actually charged with this."
"The charge of corruption of which he was acquitted was that he received a benefit not legally due, alternatively that he pretended that he would use his powers to influence the arms acquisition," he said.
Jeffery, who is an African National Congress MP, also noted in Tuesday's debate on the president's state of the nation speech: "The press has an important role to play in exposing corruption, but needs to be careful that they do not over sensationalise allegations of corruption."
"It goes without saying that allegations of corruption sell newspapers. Newspapers often outdo each other to see who can make the most of a particular allegation. The same set of facts at the press's disposal sometimes get recycled but with a different spin to make it seem as if it is a breaking story."
He said JP Landman and Associates had done a study focused on newspaper reports of corruption in South Africa between November 2000 and December 2001.
Government transparent
"One of the issues they looked at was which agent was responsible for
bringing corruption into the public sphere. They found ... the overwhelming number of cases - 60% were exposed through official government processes and that investigations by journalists exposed a mere 8%."
Jeffery, whose boss is facing a probe for allegedly taking a bribe
connected in the arms deal, said: "We might think that there is more
corruption now but as speakers have stated earlier in this debate, it is because the workings of government are far more transparent that it has ever been."
"Let us not forget that a person's guilt is not determined by what one finds on the pages of a newspaper, not matter how sensationally a story may be written. The only institution that can decide whether a person is guilty of corruption are the courts."
Referring to the arms deal, he said it was government which took steps to have it investigated and parliament had been presented with a report by the joint investigating team. - I Net Bridge