Madonsela's solution

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela posed an unnerving question about corruption at the 13th International Winelands Conference in Stellenbosch yesterday. "Have we as a society improved? Are we still sick or have we grown sicker?"

Madonsela's question arose from an address by former president Nelson Mandela at the opening of parliament in 1999. Mandela labelled corruption a sickness. "Our hope for the future deeply depends also on our resolution as a nation in dealing with the scourge of corruption. Success will require an acceptance that, in many respects, we are a sick society," Mandela said at the time.

Madonsela said there are leaders in the public and private sectors who have the best interests at heart of the people who entrusted them with power and work daily to make the constitutional dream a reality. "But there are dream stealers or thieves, chief of which is the scourge or sickness of corruption," Madonsela said. She said while Mandela likened corruption to a sickness, others called it a cancer. As a nation, she said, we should empower ourselves to deal with the cancer afflicting our body by isolating it and do "all we can to get rid of it with a view to saving ourselves from death or disability".

Madonsela said she had been asked what it would take to end corruption. She came up with a three-step solution.

Accountablility

The first, she said, was strengthening public accountability. Society should be empowered to ask more questions and know how the government works. Should service or conduct fail, they would know what questions to ask, of whom and which channels to follow.

"We need people who have been entrusted with public power to understand that this is not your power, you are a trustee. When people ask you questions - even if they go to the public protector - don't get annoyed. When you have done nothing wrong, what's wrong with telling the people what happened and how you made a bad decision?"

Transparency

Second on her list was strengthening transparency. "When there's openness there is less opportunity to engage in corruption and abuse resources."

Madonsela said whistleblowers should be protected and laws put in place to do just that. Media freedom was another key aspect to ensuring transparency.

End impunity

Madonsela said the last step is ending impunity. There should not be "protected people or holy cows. Ultimately we need selfless, committed and unwavering leadership in the area of combating corruption and promoting good governance. That is what President Mandela was calling for."