Modern-day comrade tsotsis

As long as there are state tenders, there will always be greedy politicians who use their access to power to enrich themselves by demanding and accepting bribes from potential contractors.

Desperate businesses, some too small and too poor to compete with established companies in the private sector, would seek political connections who would help them gain an unfair advantage when bidding for public-sector tenders.

Now we can express shock and issue statements of condemnation every time a politician is exposed as having taken bribes, but this will do little to stop the rot that is eating away at the fibre of our society.

The painful reality is that corruption and bribery have become so entrenched in our state tendering system, especially at provincial and local government levels, that increasing numbers of honest business people are no longer even bothering to bid for contracts.

Unless drastic measures are taken, we will soon find ourselves among those countries where nothing, in both public and private sectors, happens without somebody's hand first getting greased.

And we all know that such a state of affairs does not only result in public coffers being sucked dry, it also leads to political instability and the demise of democracy.

In the aftermath of the Julius Malema family trust saga and allegations that the ANC Youth League president is paid by Limpopo businessmen to obtain government tenders, there have been calls for state institutions tasked to probe graft to look into this matter.

While one agrees that an investigation is necessary and that the young firebrand politician should be charged if there is evidence of breaking the law, we should use the saga as an opportunity to have a conversation about the effectiveness of the measurers in place to fight public-sector corruption.

For instance, isn't it time we extended the definition of those who hold public office to include political party office-bearers who are not in cabinet; the national and provincial legislatures as well as municipalities?

There can be no denying that personalities such as Malema, the ANC secretary-general and various provincial and regional ANC secretaries wield a lot of political power even though they are not elected public representatives.

Some of them run ruling party deployment committees which often decide who gets to serve in what capacity in the state.

Yet the financial affairs of these individuals often escape public scrutiny because, unlike elected public representatives and state officials, they are not obliged to publicly declare their interests.

Across the country, there are too many stories of party regional secretaries and chairmen dictating to municipalities about what needs to be done - even when they are not members of those councils.

They often use the justification that the ANC is the "centre of power" and that those who serve in government do so because of the mandate given to the party by the electorate. Therefore, they argue, the party has the right to give instructions to those who serve in its names. The situation is probably the same in other political parties that control the few municipalities not in the ANC's hands.

The problem, however, is that the public has no way of holding these office-bearers to account as they answer only to party structures.

If political parties are as concerned as citizens about rising corruption, if they are serious about rooting out the scourge, they will amend the rules to include political party office-bearers to the list who have to annually declare their financial interests.

And since trade unions, especially those aligned to the ruling party, sometimes have a major say on governmental issues, they too should agree to their leaders being subjected to public scrutiny.

The ruling party has been making the right noises about the need to fight corruption of late. Some of its leaders are calling for the revival of "revolutionary morality" among its members in the hope that a higher "level of political consciousness" would help dissuade members from engaging in corrupt activities.

But such idealism does not help. Our history has taught us that even the "most politically conscious comrades" are not immune to corruption. Haven't we had clergymen and former freedom fighters going to jail for stealing from the poor?

What is required is not "political education". Modern-day "comrade-tsotsis" are not thieving because they lack knowledge. They do so because they are greedy and know it is easy to get away with it.

Ours is to tighten rules and close loopholes to ensure they don't.