Pretoria - Deputy Minister in the Presidency Buti Manamela says government remains committed to fighting corruption in all its forms.
Addressing the International Anti-Corruption Day event at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria on Wednesday, Deputy Minister Manamela said the seriousness with which corruption is viewed is evidenced by the fact that the National Development Plan (NDP) dedicates an entire chapter to the fight against corruption, including the injunctions that must be carried out to break its back.
“In similar vein, our five-year plan, the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), contains within it actions we have to focus on and the targets we must attain in order to inflict an impactful blow on corruption and bribery.
“One of the MTSF priorities is to secure by 2019 the conviction of 120 persons who are charged with corruption and corruption related offences, in which the amount of the potential loss involved is R5 million and above,” said the Deputy Minister.
He said although government may be lagging a little behind with regard to meeting this target, it is nevertheless satisfied with the progress made since 2014.
“To date, we have achieved a cumulative figure of about 16 convictions, which together with convictions realised between 2009 and 2014 now stands at 88. However, we need to enhance our forensic, investigative and prosecutorial capacity in order to achieve more radical results.
“Over and above the foregoing convictions, since 2012 we have also made good progress in relation to securing convictions for over 3 000 individuals involved with serious or serious financial and economic crimes such as fraud and theft,” he said.
He said securing these convictions also offers the possibility to recover the losses sustained by the State as a consequence of corruption.
Deputy Minister Manamela said since 2013 government has succeeded in recovering losses worth about R1.8 billion.
Deputy Minister Manamela said part of giving effect to a resilient anti-corruption system, as envisioned in the NDP, involves developing a national anti-corruption strategy that will inform not only the work of government but also the initiatives of citizens.
“Among other things, we intend for the strategy to enhance transparency and accountability, improve coordination of all anti-corruption endeavours, promote ethical conduct and ensure public participation.
“We aim to have the strategy ready for implementation by the second half of next year. It also places a duty upon us to enact legislative and related measures as may be necessary to create such criminal offences that will combat corruption,” said the Deputy Minister. - SAnews.gov.za
