House Chair, the ACDP has taken note of the draft Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Amendment Bill and commends Ms James for the initiative.
Fighting corruption in South Africa is vital because it loots public money, hinders the provision of basic services and infrastructure, and prevents economic growth. By stopping corruption, we can protect jobs, build better schools and hospitals, and ensure a better future for everyone in the country.
Regrettably, however, corruption has reached staggering levels in society, where criminality has even infiltrated the highest levels of our criminal justice system. It is crucial, then, to apply effective existing laws far more effectively, and to amend laws where there are perceived gaps, as this bill seeks to do.
The ACDP supports the proposed mandatory minimum sentences in the bill. Stiffer minimum sentences can be a useful deterrent to corrupt practices, and have been found to be constitutional by our courts.
We also support tougher proposed sanctions for hiding corrupt blacklisted status. The sad reality, however, is that out of 500 referrals made by anti-corruption bodies like the SIU, hundreds of companies still receive state tenders because they have not been blacklisted. So, whilst doubling the fines and jail sentences may help, the issue is why aren’t these companies being blacklisted in the first place?
As far as the reduction of a mandatory reporting threshold for corruption is concerned, the question is similar: how effective will it be? How many people have been prosecuted for non-compliance with the existing section 34, where the threshold is 100,000? Very few, if any, to our knowledge.
The amendment commendably does, however, seek to address the possible loophole where similar but repeated offences below the threshold may go unpunished. If then one is to increase the sentences for not blowing the whistle, then those that do blow the whistle must be far more effectively protected, particularly given the victimisation and even assassination of whistleblowers like Babita Deokaran. The new Protected Disclosure Bill goes some way improving that protection.
In addition, harsher sentences for victimising and harming whistleblowers should be introduced, and financial incentives.
Lastly, the ACDP welcomes this initiative to strengthen the fight against corruption and looks forward to engaging with this bill in the Justice Portfolio Committee.
It’s time for the looters to be looted and the plunderers to be plundered. It’s time for justice and righteousness in the country.
I thank you.
