President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla love pad scandal is the tip of the iceberg if you look at how corruption is eroding tax payers’ money, says trade union Solidarity.
According to a report released by Solidarity there are nine corruption scandals that, over the past number of years, have cost the taxpayer much more than the R246 million spent on the president’s Nkandla home in terms of extent, severity and impact on the corruption scale. These include, among others, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Home Affairs.
One of the biggest government blunders discussed in the report is the R620 million spent on unsuitable locomotives by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). In addition, a recent report by the Auditor-General (AG) shows that Prasa has racked up irregular expenditure of at least R790 million.
According to Dr Eugene Brink, senior researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute, the findings in the report, although shocking, are merely a drop in the ocean. “It is impossible to quantify the actual extent of corruption in South Africa as much of the corruption takes place unnoticed and unpunished. Furthermore, there are even more incidents of corruption not mentioned in this report that exceed Nkandla. Therefore the findings in the report are not all-encompassing and are merely an indication that corruption is undeniably one of the biggest crises in our country,” Brink explained.
Brink believes that one of the major disadvantages of corruption is that citizens are deprived of essential service delivery. “The waste of the country’s resources partly explain the high incidence of violent protest action across the country. In addition, corruption discourages investors, leading to a drop in business confidence.
Solidarity has brought the report to the attention of several stakeholders, including the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, and the watchdog organisation, Corruption Watch. The report also forms part of Solidarity’s comprehensive social media campaign against corruption. Click here for more information on the campaign.
The ten corruption scandals reviewed in the report include:
- Local government
- Tenderpreneurship
- Tshwane Prepaid Meters
- The SAPS
- The Metro Police
- Prasa
- False qualifications
- The Department of Home Affairs
- The Cabinet and Parliament
- Nkandla
