Speaking at the Presidential Social Sector Summit in Boksburg, President Ramaphosa said that the NPA achieved a 90% conviction rate, having finalised 380 cases brought to the country’s specialised commercial crimes courts, over the past financial year.
During his closing speech on Friday 5 August, the President recommitted the government to their fight against corruption and said the fight has been gaining momentum.
“There is clearly much more that needs to be done, but the fight against corruption is gaining momentum. Overcoming these and other challenges requires all sectors of society to bring their respective capabilities together and unite behind a common vision.”
As reported Dispatch Live, in addition to the 380 finalised casing concerning government officials, a further 209 individuals in the private sector have been convicted over the same period.
This forms the majority of the more than 500 individuals convicted by the Specialised Commercial Crimes unit in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), with the majority of suspects found guilty over the past financial year.
Ramaphosa stated that the asset forfeiture unit had confiscated R406 million worth of assets from corruption suspects. He added that even though much is still to be done to rid the country of corruption, the NPA must be commended for the work done thus far.
News 24 reported that during his address at the Pavocat-Stellenbosch Academy Counter-Corruption Summit, the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Mkhuleko Hlengwa, expressed that the government’s tender process is what is at the heart of corruption in South Africa.
“I do not consider tendering in its current form in South Africa as business. It is merely a facilitation of money, often at escalated costs, and no establishment of skills transfer, business growth and job creation,” says Hlengwa.
“Unless there is a deliberate effort to reconfigure the tendering space and its purpose, the cancer of corruption will continue to prevail as a daily lived reality for the majority of our people and to the detriment of the economy. We must build up the state’s own capacity and, where it falls short, engage in tendering.”
Also read:
Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery