Suspended Independent Development Trust (IDT) CEO Tebogo Malaka and her spokesperson Phasha Makgolane have, in a short space of time, demonstrated how one can move from little-known to infamous.
Their attempt to bribe Daily Maverick investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh is not only brazen but forces us to ask how many Malakas and Makgolanes are out there, brandishing R60,000 for willing participants in corrupt schemes.
That they promised Myburgh more wads of cash all the while providing him with information about tenders he was invited to partake in or submit firms from which he could later draw bigger amounts must worry us all. Is this how they have been running the IDT?
How many of those who have done business with the IDT have, for whatever reason, entered into these type of arrangements? Is this a cancer specific to the IDT or other areas where taxpayers’ funds are utilised?
Malaka has been the subject of reports on corrupt tenders at the IDT and how her property portfolio seems to have grown exponentially. Makgolane, meanwhile, seems set to have put his job on the line by trying to play a “fixer” instead of foregrounding ethics in how he does his work.
Myburgh’s decision not to accept the bribe (to stop reporting on Malaka) reinforces the centrality of ethics in the fourth estate and the media’s own gallant role in pushing back against corruption.
At the height of apartheid and also at a time when South Africa was in the grip of state capture, journalism has been the most crucial component to exposing corruption, speaking truth to power, while placing a mirror on society over its morality.
The Zuma years were perhaps the most trying time for our democracy. But through this time, South Africans depended on ethical, investigative journalism by organisations such as the World, Drum, the Sunday Times, Mail & Guardian and, much later, News24, eNCA, The Daily Maverick, TimesLIVE and others whose work led to the establishment of the state capture commission.
To Zondo, auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke and public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, South Africa is fighting a losing battle against corruption. Yet the fourth estate, from time to time, leads the way by exposing corrupt charlatans
Through this commission, the hollowing out of state entities was exposed, officials who willingly took part in state capture were named and shamed, and the powerful politicians who operated with impunity were finally challenged to answer for themselves.
South Africans got to see how corruption gnawed away at meagre public resources meant to benefit the poor.
Former chief justice Raymond Zondo’s words are further affirmed when he questioned whether South Africans had finally seen the era of accountability. He recently told the Sunday Times it pained him to swear in ministers who had been exposed for their participation in corruption or malfeasance.
To Zondo, auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke and public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, South Africa is fighting a losing battle against corruption. Yet the fourth estate, from time to time, leads the way by exposing corrupt charlatans.
This is why the call by South African National Editors Forum that those who are aware of attempts to bribe reporters must approach the police is apt and should be supported.
People like Malaka and Makgolane not only deserve to be kept away from public service — they also deserve prison’s orange uniform.
To rid the public service of the putrid stench of corruption, those like Malaka and Makgolane who walk around with wads of cash, tempting and trying to subvert systems of accountability, should be identified and dealt with in the harshest terms possible. What this pair have done is not merely prima facie corrupt, it is disgraceful and shameful.
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