THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK ON CORRUPTION WITHIN THE SAPS

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CHAPTER TWO THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF CORRUPTION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Introduction

“Rotten apples, rotten trees and rotten orchards” are terms often used to describe the unfolding of corruption occurring in law enforcement agencies and in organisations by Senior Management in order to defend the corruption allegations levelled against them. Senior management refers to corrupt police officials as “rotten apples”. The few “rotten apples”, if left unmonitored, ultimately infest the entire organisation. They abuse their power; commit bribery and get involved in dishonest secret deals to perpetuate grand corruption. Corruption, if allowed to continue, will spread throughout the organisation, fermenting and becoming an epidemic until it leads to the growth of “rotten trees” and eventually a “rotten apple” orchard’. To eradicate corruption remains a mammoth task within most state departments and parastatals. Many people believe that the solution to the ever-increasing cost of living and desired ostentatious lifestyles is their vision of committing corruption to satisfy their desires.
In the post and pre-1994 periods, scandals of corruption in the Republic of South Africa overwhelmed most people who craved more money. There are widespread allegations of corruption in the political and governmental, economic and societal spheres and some of the perpetrators that are found guilty get off lightly in the courts. There are continuous rumours of high-ranking government officials being involved in corruption, using official money for their private use. In some instances public servants and government officials interfere and manipulate government tenders and contracts so that their family and friends are awarded contracts. There are even individuals from the business sector that are involved in some form of corruption to favour their services and products.
In this chapter a description and an overview of the nature of corruption in South Africa, the extent to which it is committed, the consequences and a summary will be provided. Appropriate and specific examples of corruption and corrupt acts in the political and governmental, economic and societal spheres are presented to demonstrate the ways corruption is manifested and committed. A brief discussion regarding the nature of corruption in other developing countries will be done.

The nature of corruption in South Africa

Corruption occurs across a broad spectrum of society, both in developed and underdeveloped countries. Corruption takes place in the various spheres of the society and does not occur in a closed environment, but involves the communities, officials working in government departments, and other sectors of the economy. In this section a discussion will be presented on corruption in the political, governmental, economic and societal spheres.

 Political and Governmental Sphere

Political corruption is the abuse by politicians and government officials of their power for personal gain. When an appointed political office bearer performs an illegal action for personal gain, it amounts to political corruption and includes bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, influence peddling, graft and embezzlement. In these high political positions corruption is facilitated by friends who are involved in the procurement of goods and services for government departments, assisting friends with smuggling of drugs and money laundering, though it is not restricted to these activities. Sometimes it is the misuse of government power for other purposes, such as the domination of public servants who abuse their positions to provide favours to family, friends and contacts (Keightley, 2011).
The manipulation between individuals in the community and the societal structures of the same population fighting for political leadership roles sometimes causes rampant corruption while competing for resources and other services. Once the leadership is established, many forms of corruption occur, which eventually corrupt that particular society for favours and other personal gains. It becomes even more noticeable when the affluent people in that community are denied direct formal influence on the political as well as the essential services in the government and civil service. Finally, to take some form of control, the basic official behaviour can be corrupted when its political heads and government leaders deviate from the formal duties of their public role for personal gain (Keightley, 2011). Luiz and Stewart (2013) suggest that the communities are fully aware of the manipulation and conniving by political leaders for certain resources in South Africa. Political influences and corrupt activities are prevalent in order to access specific resources which are required for the daily needs of communities. Therefore corruption erodes principled moral beliefs within society when elected officials often engage in illegal activities and the communities who voted them into power are afraid to reprimand them. Corrupt activities are typically both transactional and institutional and include interactions between governments, institutions and private individuals. Early in 2011, a Cabinet Minister reportedly used public funds to live in a luxury hotel and fly first class on government funds. Within one Province, Kwa Zulu Natal, well over 30 cases involving corruption have been investigated in the 2013/2014 financial year (Pillay, 2014).
Political corruption includes activities in which public officials abuse public power for personal gain. In 2015, the NPA confirmed corruption charges against one such public official, namely former Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele. The former Minister was accused of accepting more than R10 million in kickbacks to influence tender processes worth R 2 billion. The constant problem of government corruption is a persistent feature and a central risk in the public sector, especially instances of improper, unethical and immoral conduct and behaviour by politicians and public servants (Naidoo, 2013).
In paragraph 2.2.1 the actions of government officials depict the way administrative work protects the corrupting influence of partisan politics, as well as abuse of public office by political leaders and officials for personal or private gain. To prevent corrupt activities by the executive power, it is clear that there must be a separation of powers, otherwise there will be political influence to favour the political head in  the administrative work, for instance in the awarding of tenders, procurements and other financial deals that the government secures for activities to improve the lives of the people. Often public servants are inconvenienced exactly at the point of conflict between the demands of modern government and traditional power structures. It is in this context that the entrenched informal structures and networks are able to resist the introduction of new norms of governance, thus undermining attempts to combat corruption (Pillay & Kluvers, 2014).
A brief explanation will be provided about the way South Africa was governed prior to 1994 with certain policies and transitional policies which came into effect after the first democratic elections in the same year and there was a great shift to accommodate the majority of previously disadvantaged people into government. A short and brief account of some of the examples of corrupt practices that have taken place will be given. The victory of the National Party in 1948 and the introduction of apartheid polices signified an administrative transition from the previous administrations. The so-called policies which favoured the ‘rent seeking’ of government supporters began. It all commenced with an increase in large numbers of Afrikaners being employed in the Civil Service, particularly at junior levels. Stable employment and upward social mobility was provided for the working class and lower middle class Afrikaners and all these strategies were done within the bounds of legality.
The political leadership paid a heavy price for these policies. The new officials at senior levels lacked the expertise of those they had replaced, and there were continuing skill shortages in administration of government departments. The recruits to the junior levels were often amongst the least educated and resourceful amongst less affluent whites. There was a certain decline in the level of professionalism of the Civil Service. The role of patronage in these changes was so great, that there was relatively little evidence of overt corruption in the top ranks of the bureaucracy and this can be attributed to the civil servants genuinely believing that they were serving the volk (Hyslop, 2005). In the post-apartheid  period and 17 years into democracy in 2011, the Public Protector found the then Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Sicelo Shiceka’s Switzerland trips at state expense to be unlawful and his actions constituted maladministration, abuse of public funds and improper conduct when he falsely claimed such trips as official (News24, 2011).

The nature of corruption pre-1994

A slight shift from the hard-line policies began showing around 1972; and this time the transition was away from the purist Verwoerdian model of apartheid. There was a slight sense of ‘softening’ segregationist measures, by accepting the permanent presence of an urban black population, and attempting to integrate the Coloured and Indian minorities into the political entity, but for separate levels of government. The government, especially in the early years of P.W. Botha’s presidency, sought to pursue this agenda while retaining power in white hands. It was during this period that corruption in government, administration and para-statals seems to have really taken off. In this sense, the rise of corruption in the South African state is closely linked to the particular way in which the apartheid system disintegrated (Hyslop, 2005). Van Vuuren (2014) agrees that South Africa has long struggled with a culture of corruption, as evident in the final years of the apartheid regime from the mid-1970s to the early 1990’s. The public sector officials used a cloak of secrecy to steal vast amounts of money and move these abroad. The apartheid era bureaucracy was regarded as unfit to carry out the orders of a democratic government. In the first place it was staffed at senior levels by largely, White Afrikaans-speaking men the very people responsible for implementing the racist programmes of the former government (Chipkin, 2013).

CHAPTER ONE 1. ORIENTATION TO THE STUDY
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Significance of the Study
1.4. Clarification of Corruption
1.5 The Purpose Statement of the Study
1.6 The Objectives of the Study
1.7 Summary
CHAPTER TWO 2. NATURE AND EXTENT OF CORRUPTION IN SOUTH AFRICA
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Nature of Corruption in South Africa
2.3 Rotten apples, rotten barrels and rotten orchards
2.4 Summary
CHAPTER THREE 3. THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK ON CORRUPTION WITHIN THE SAPS
3.1 Introduction
3.2. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
3.3 The South African Police Service Act, 1995
3.4 Protected Disclosure Act, 2000
3.5 Prevention and Combatting of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004
3.6 Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act, 2011
3.7 Public Finance Management Act, 1999
3.8 Public Audit Act, 2004
3.9 The South African Police Code of Conduct
3.10 SAPS Corruption and Fraud Prevention Strategy
3.11 Risk Management Strategy
3.12 International Anti-corruption Instruments
3.13 Gaps that cause the Legislative Framework to be ineffective
3.14 Summary
CHAPTER FOUR 4. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
4.1 Introduction
4.2. Research Design
4.3. Research Methodology
4.4 Measures to ensure Trustworthiness
4.5 Ethical Considerations
4.6 University of South Africa (UNISA) Code of Research Ethics
4.7 Challenges in conducting the study
4.8 Summary
CHAPTER FIVE 5. A DESCRIPTION OF THE FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY
5.1 Introduction
5.2 High incidences of corruption and corruption-related crimes on all levels of the police
5.3 Multiple factors in the policing context which contribute to corruption
5.4 Forms of corruption and corruption-related crimes
5.5 Dynamics resulting from corruption and corruption-related crimes
5.6 Anti-corruption mechanisms
5.7 Summary
CHAPTER SIX 6. A REFLECTION ON THE FINDINGS AND THE LITERATURE
6.1 Introduction
6.2 High incidents of corruption involving all levels of police
6.3 Multiple environmental factors contribute to corruption
6.4 Forms of corruption and corruption-related crimes 180 6.4.1 Money
6.6 Anti-corruption mechanism
6.7 Summary
7. CHAPTER SEVEN 7. SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
7.1 Introduction
7.2 A summary of the research study
7.3 Recommendations
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