Anti-corruption agencies established by government initiatives require greater coordination across all governing spheres if the fight against graft is to be successful, said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Willie Hofmeyr. He was speaking at the Public Sector Forum hosted by the Institute of Internal Auditors of South Africa on Tuesday.

Hofmeyr argued that there was not enough coherence between the various government agencies to effectively take on the ambitious mandate set by the Executive, which aims to convict 100 corrupt officials by 2014.

He said that, despite the groundwork being laid to fight corruption – such as the establishment of investigating units such as the Hawks, the anti-corruption task team and the multi-agency working group on procurement located within the finance cluster – there was a lack of coordination and partnership between these groups. This was particularly prevalent on government levels, with local government initiatives being the most ineffective.

Hofmeyr argued that some departments located within local government frequently followed tender procedures that were inconsistent with good business practice, overcharging and awarding tenders unfairly. In these cases, greater oversight is needed to prevent graft at local level, emphasising government’s requirement for better value for money.

Hofmeyr also pointed out that transparency plays an important role in the perceptions that affect the country. According to the most recent Transparency Index, South Africa ranked 64 out of 180 countries, indicating that an improvement in transparent tender procurement was needed in order to attract foreign investment, which is critical to economic growth.

Greater Emphasis

Despite these problems, Hofmeyr noted that the current administration had placed greater emphasis on fighting corruption. This was illustrated by the Presidency declaring the fight against corruption as a key priority in the year ahead. He said that government had provided a base on which to take on graft; however, more was needed to successfully implement its mandate.

“Some 392 suspected fraudsters are currently being investigated, 183 of these are in court and nine convictions had been secured. A great number of these figures consist of prominent politicians and businessmen. This indicates a dramatic improvement from earlier efforts prior to the current administration,” noted Hofmeyr.

In conclusion, Hofmeyr argued that, although there has been significant progress in combating corruption, more needed to be done in terms of building State capacity to prevent corruption and convict offenders. To do so, he argued that government, the private sector and civil society needed to work together to prevent and uncover corruption, malpractice and fraud.