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By David Canning
“Fry the Big Fish.” I have long remembered this potent advice given, years ago, by Robert Klitgaard, then a visiting lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
His book, Tropical Gangsters*, outlined an effective strategy for fighting endemic corruption.
Simply make an example of the worst offender at the top of the dung pile – and the lesser offenders take fright.
Klitgaard described how this strategy had been put to good effect in a handful of corruption-ridden countries although, to be honest, there have been some relapses since then.
An anti-corruption fight has to be unceasingly relentless – and real. The mealy-mouthed platitudes mouthed by some South African politicians are anything but sincere.
Nevertheless, some 17 years into democracy South Africa is making at least a half-hearted attempt in this direction.
The conviction of former police chief Jackie Selebi, the investigation of his successor Bheki Cele and the charges laid against some leading KwaZulu-Natal politicians and a top civil servant testify to the fact there are some fearless investigators at work.
Most happily, we still have a core of honest civil servants, prosecutors, magistrates and police officers doing their work – and being backed up, sometimes, by political will.
In this respect, unfortunately, a battle frequently rages between loyalty to party cadres and commitment to national interests.
While some figures seem to have been untouchable, the scale of these recent prosecutions has been encouraging.
Planning Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan recently separately outlined the devastating impact that corruption has on the poor and on the country as a whole. Manuel was reported to have said last week that the greed and slackness of officials were partly to blame for one of the greatest tragedies in South Africa – the failures of our education system.
Children go to school hungry or are denied textbooks owing to the greed of tenderpreneurs in some parts of the country. Everybody should applaud his remedy for this – that civil servants should be “immersed” in development and “insulated from undue political interference”.
The dirty hand of corruption can be found in all countries – but those who fare best insulate their civil servants from the greed of politicians and businessmen. There are strict rules, effectively enforced by punishment, for stepping over clearly defined lines.
Two weeks ago I was fascinated and alarmed by some of the stories being uncovered by journalists in other parts of Africa.
A writer from west Africa related how the president of his corruption-ridden country had stashed billions of dollars in secret bank accounts.
He and his family own a chain of fabulous mansions abroad and his son has commissioned the building of a yacht in Germany for a price way in excess of the country’s national education budget.
Businessmen have been ordered to pay their “tax” into a bank account owned by an “adviser” to the president. Relatives of the political elite are perforce appointed to the boards of companies that wish to do business there – and rewarded most handsomely.
A consultant in another country told me how diamonds are secretly exported in shipments of bulk raw materials – with a payback to the head of state – and so on.
Yet even the most corrupt nations have a core of honest, albeit often intimidated, politicians, journalists, officials and policemen.
Even in Zimbabwe a visiting business friend recently had difficulty in paying for his visa because the denomination of his foreign currency notes exceeded the listed cost of the visa – and the official refused to accept one cent more than the official price. A lesson in morality for all those border officials and policemen who routinely look for a little extra!
Secrecy is the handmaiden of corruption, so I have nothing but admiration for journalists in many parts of the continent – and elsewhere – who bravely uncover fraud at the highest levels. Some have paid with their lives.
All strength, therefore, to those who continue to fight the ominous exclusion of a “public interest” defence from our Protection of State Information Bill.
Such a legal defence is sometimes the only way for whistle-blowers and journalists to “fry” the corrupt – be they little or big fish.
* Tropical Gangsters: One Man’s Experience With Development And Decadence In Deepest Africa – by Robert Klitgaard
