Gareth Gilmour
Nigel Payne, chairman of the Durban-based Mr Price Group, unleashed a scathing attack on corruption in the government at the SA Council of Shopping Centres annual congress in Durban.
South Africa has experienced a “precipitous slide” in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index since 2007 and faced the prospect of becoming one of the world’s most corrupt nations.
This was the warning from top businessman Nigel Payne, chairman of the Durban-based Mr Price Group, who unleashed a scathing attack on corruption in the government at the SA Council of Shopping Centres’ annual congress, under way in Durban.
Speaking to more than 1 300 delegates, he said it was time South Africans got “p***ed off” about corruption.
Payne said corruption was crippling SA and that firm leadership was needed to reverse the trend to avoid the country falling into the group of the world’s most corrupt nations.
“The declining trend in the Transparency International index does not look great. In fact, it is scary for South Africa and almost extreme. The index has a 10-point scoring system… South Africa dropped from a rating of 4.5 in 2010 to 4.1 in 2011. In 2007 we had a rating of 5.1 and this is a very precipitous slide for any country to have,” he said.
Payne said this was SA’s lowest rating in the index since it began 17 years ago.
He said that once the rating went below four points, one could see SA heading to “failed state” status, where corruption was a part of daily life and resulted in more protests.
“We can’t afford to let that happen… the downward spiral is hard to reverse… Things can deteriorate rapidly into an Arab Spring or failed state.”
He said SA had always been rated in the index’s four-to-six zone – the zone of “uncertainty” into which most countries fell. Countries rated above six were in the so-called “premier league”, where “society squeezes out corruption”. SA should aspire to ascend to this.
Payne said SA had seen a service delivery protest somewhere in the country almost every day in the past three years. In many cases it was a direct result of some kind of corruption.
He said there were heroes doing a fantastic job in the government, such as Auditor-General Terence Nombembe and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
Payne said there were outspoken leaders such as Mamphela Ramphele, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Nedbank chairman Reuel Khoza, in addition to those who were doing a fantastic job in the government.
“Reuel is probably the only brave businessman out there… As the retail property industry and business leaders, together with other South Africans, we need to look long and hard at what country we want.
“This is no longer someone else’s problem. We need an intervention to salvage a future for SA. It is time we get p***ed off about corruption,” he said.
