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The Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, needs to set binding targets for reducing the billions of rands worth of public money lost through corruption every year. In a parliamentary reply today, Minister Gordhan conceded that Treasury had set up no targets for the reduction of losses in the public financial system.

I will write to the Minister to suggest that such targets be put in place so that the process of combating fraud and corruption can be measured against tangible objectives. It is a fact that objectives that aren’t measurable cannot be managed.

The Special Investigating Unit estimates that the South African government loses roughly R30 billion a year to “financial leakage”. This in effect means that R30 billion is stolen or lost from state coffers to corrupt government officials every year.

Although recent reforms to tighten regulations and close down loopholes are commendable, it is disappointing that the Minister has not set clear targets for the elimination of financial leakage. After all, the Minister of Finance should ultimately be measured on his ability to effectively manage the people’s money; current systemic failures are costing us R30 billion a year. It is only sensible that clear targets to reduce this massive loss be put in place.

Every rand we manage to save by cutting out leakage from the system can be spent on improving our people’s lives. That is why it is imperative that Minister Gordhan should therefore take decisive action to stop the waste.