Faizel Patel – 24/08/2020
Political analyst Professor Steven Friedman says corruption would be rife in South Africa irrespective of which political party was running the country.
Professor Friedman and researcher and political analyst Dr Dale McKinley were speaking to Radio Islam on Monday about the African National Congress (ANC) corruption in the country.
The ANC were forced to put out fires over the past couple of months, with anger at the parting boiling over after it emerged that billions were looted from the COVID-19 relief aid.
On Sunday president Cyril Ramaphosa in a letter to ANC members admitted that lack of discipline and the ANC’s failure to deal with issues have eroded the organisational ethos of the party.
In the letter, Ramaphosa reminded members that corruption is robbing the poor of services.
Professor Friedman says while the ANC has lost a great deal of credibility which is part of a process that has been going on for a long time, another political party would not have been different.
He says we do not take corruption seriously enough.
“We come up with these very simplistic analysis and very simplistic solutions; ‘You know it’s all about what’s happening within the ANC and if only Ramaphosa were tough enough or only if the DA or the EFF were running the country things would change.’ The reality is that there is a very deeply rooted problem. Corruption in South Africa started in about 1652 and hasn’t slackened much since then.”
Dr McKinley says corruption is not unique to South Africa.
“South Africa has its own unique historical trajectory certainly and the racial politics has underlined that. But in terms of the systemic nature of the corruption, I think that one could point to many different situations where this is the case. That always basically pulls up the question of systemic change.”
Professor Frieman and Dr McKinley both agree that in order to root out corruption, there must be a strengthening of the criminal justice system, strengthening of citizen action including changing the rules so that corruption becomes more difficult.
Listen to the discussion with Professor Steven Friedman & Dr. Dale McKinley
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