Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi has challenged the public and private sectors to instil a sense of ethics in their organisations to fight corruption.

“..Investigations only will not combat corruption, we must also pose a question on what is being done by organisations to instil a sense of ethics and a culture of integrity,” she said.

The Minister was addressing a conference on fraud here today in her capacity as chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF).

The fifth Annual Fraud Conference is being hosted by the Institute of the Internal Auditors South Africa (IISA) and the South African Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

More than 250 delegates are attending the conference, including advisors, executives and operational managers, educators and students as well as audit and consulting firms.

The two-day event seeks to explore the synergy between risk management and investigation, prosecution and resolution.

Fraser-Moleketi noted that generally governance arrangements in big business were “solid”.

“But how do you account for a breakdown in ethics if (corruption) scandals occur in spite of the governance arrangements? It means we have a breakdown in ethics,” she said She added that according to the Public Service Anti-corruption Strategy, good management constituted the first line of defence against corruption.

Minister Fraser-Moleketi also called on all South Africans to build the culture of integrity in all sectors of society, including communities, families and individuals.

She also congratulated auditors for their work to combat corruption, saying the nature of their profession did not allow them to have wide social relationships.

“Internal auditors and fraud examiners seem to stand at the wrong end of the friendship chain. This is a pity because you are supposed to be an organisation's biggest friend, that enables management processes and controls to be effective, allowing the organisation to progress in optimal circumstances without the hindrance of corruption and fraud,” she said.

“I also trust that this conference will enable us to increase our efforts to cure our beautiful country of the effects of corruption.

“As the President (Thabo Mbeki) remarked in February (during his state of the nation address), we must continue our work to fight corruption and carry the hope and expectations of the South African people.”

The Minister said South Africans expected government, business and all other sectors of society to conduct business with integrity and not to indulge in any form of corruption or fraud. – BuaNews