Corruption Watch will consider class-action litigation on behalf of communities deprived of services due to corruption.
“We are looking at the prospect of civil litigation, class-action suits, if we identify suitable communities deprived by corruption,” said David Lewis, executive director of the newly formed initiative.
While class-action suits are often challenging under SA law, one was successfully fought in the Western Cape High Court on behalf of accident victims whose Cape Town lawyer had defrauded them of compensation from the Road Accident Fund.
Lewis, a former competition commissioner, was speaking after Thursday’s launch of the independent watchdog at which speakers such as Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe highlighted the damaging impact of the “cancer” of corruption on ordinary South Africans.
Jay Naidoo, the chairman of a global foundation fighting malnutrition and the ex-RDP minister in Nelson Mandela’s administration, said there should be “outrage” that schools had no textbooks while government officials gave tenders to pals.
“We should be outraged… Why we decide to give divine rights to people in our own party, I don’t know,” he said.
Naidoo told The Sunday Independent that corruption had “definitely got worse” over the past five years and factionalism needed to be confronted.
“If we don’t take a stand now we will have thrown away the gains (of democracy). Every generation has its fight. We fought against apartheid. Your fight today is against corruption.”
Earlier, Vavi said factionalism within the ruling party was resulting in billions of rands being lost through corruption. “The full cost of these divisions has still to be counted. The perfect cover that such factions and divisions provide is that even those caught with their hands in the cookie jar refuse to resign from their posts as they enjoy immunity and (are) guaranteed indemnity provided by their faction.”
Political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki welcomed Corruption Watch as an initiative with “staying power” as it had the backing of the trade unions.
“Corruption is a form of tax. You are taxing the South African economy for the benefit of a few private individuals,” he later told The Sunday Independent.
While Mbeki and Vavi called on civil servants to be public servants and not businessmen, Radebe said there was a disclosure of interest regime in place, with rules to prevent conflicts.
However, the Public Service Commission has for several years criticised the quality, level and timeousness of disclosures, which remain confidential.
It discovered that in the 2007/8 financial year, 434 of 2 038 senior managers had potential conflicts of interest, while another 210 had failed to disclose directorships.
Vavi said Cosatu would fight for the ban on public servants doing business, at the ANC’s June policy conference and at the national conference in December in Mangaung.
“People have to choose whether they want to pursue their business interests or serve the public. They cannot do both at the same time,” he said.
Mbeki also said a civil servant could not simultaneously pursue business. “You have to make a decision… You can’t be both. The ANC government consistently refuses to ban civil servants from doing business. The ANC officials and members are involved in this thing.”
Corruption Watch wants South Africans to post their experiences of corruption on its website, in public and confidential sections.
These reports would be studied and, if necessary, further investigated, before being passed on to law-enforcement agencies.
Madonsela said: “We can’t be spectators. What it becomes depends on all of us. We can’t depend on a single individual or institution to end corruption or end all of our social ills,” she said.
The organisation stems from a 2010 resolution by Cosatu to establish an anti-corruption body.
It is headed by Lewis and its board includes Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, former Constitutional Court judge Kate O’Regan, ex-education director-general Mary Metcalfe, former home affairs director-general Mavuso Msimang and Bobby Godsell, a former head of Eskom and member of the National Planning Commission. - Sunday Indepedndent