Corruption is endemic in our country – both in the private and public sectors, but by candidly viewing corruption as an illness, South Africans could empower themselves to “deal with it as a nation, the way we would deal with it if it were a cancer afflicting our body," Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela said at the 13th Winelands Conference hosted by Stellenbosch University’s School for Public Leadership on Tuesday.

Madonsela said South Africans could empower themselves to deal with the cancer by isolating it, and "do all we can to save ourselves from death or disability".

She said that three essential factors were needed to end corruption. These included strengthening public accountability, which includes empowering civil society to ask questions; transparency, without which accountability is impossible; and ending impunity. She noted that the country would need to increase whistleblower protection and usage, as well as ensure media freedom.

“Ending impunity is a must, otherwise all anti-corruption and anti-maladministration efforts are useless. There should be no protected people, and no holy cows,” she argued.

Madonsela said that, as an ombudsman institution, the Public Protector fights corruption in two ways: through case work and through stakeholder agreement.

Through case work, her office steps in to help people exact accountability against those they have entrusted with public power.

“I believe that corruption and maladministration are intertwined,” she said.

“If you strike at maladministration you score a major blow against corruption. Service failure is often as a result of corruption. Examples [of corruption] include improperly awarded RDP houses,” she stated.

Stakeholder engagement was aimed at strengthening synergies in the enforcement of good governance. Madonsela said her office promoted good governance through engagement with good governance organs like the Independent Complaints Directorate, the Human Rights Council and others.

“We have made a strategic decision to coordinate and strengthen synergies in our fight against corruption,” she noted.

Madonsela warned, too, that South Africa was at a tipping point.

She said former President Nelson Mandela’s warning that "our hope for the future depends also on our resolution as a nation in dealing with the scourge of corruption" remained valid.

She added that all South Africans should play their part to contribute to an accountable State that operates with the highest level of integrity.

“The trajectory of our country depends on each of us. We have the power to determine the next phase,” she concluded.

Written by Stephanie Nieuwoudt