http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/topstories/topstories11177 94938.aspx
The price of corruption Friday June 03, 2005 12:45 - (SA) Public sector corruption costs South Africa between 50 and 150 billion rand per year, an anti-corruption expert told the next leg of the Schabir Shaik case today. Hennie van Vuuren, from the Institute for Security Studies, was called by the state to testify in aggravation of sentence for Schabir Shaik who was convicted on two counts of corruption and one of fraud in connection with dealings relating to the government's arms deal and his relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma. "Law is only as good as the willingness of the state to implement anti-corruption measures," Van Vuuren told the court which was still packed after yesterday's judgment. Shaik, who appeared more relaxed and was more talkative was back in court, accompanied by his wife Zuleikha and his brother Mo, Chippy and Yunis. He is on R100,000 bail pending his sentencing. As an example Van Vuuren cited the Department of Social Welfare where 40,000 public servants received grants to which they were not entitled. Van Vuuren said that out of 4,000 South Africans surveyed only two percent reported corruption. The others did not believe that "whistle blowing" would be dealt with, if at all, by the state. "That reflected a lack of faith in state institutions," said Van Vuuren. In 2004, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya revealed that social grants scams cost the state R2 billion a year and as much as R10 billion may have been lost to corrupt practices in the first 10 years of democracy, he said. Van Vuuren said the sectors most open to corruption were public servants, the construction industry, followed by the arms and defence industry. The impact of low salaries was not necessarily a factor they looked at while conducting their research. Corruption thrived on the silence of the people involved in the act and therefore it was difficult to estimate the extent thereof. However, a conservative calculation showed that roughly 10 percent of all transactions per country were corrupt. According to the African Union, corruption costs the continent at least $150 billion in "squandered wealth". Van Vuuren said the World Bank argued that bribes in excess of one trillion US dollars were paid annually. "Corruption, the abuse of entrusted power for private benefit, is one of the biggest developmental challenges facing the world today," he said. "It is the poor woman and man who are too often the ultimate victim of corrupt activity perpetrated by members of the business and political elite, in a quest for conspicuous consumption - euphemistically known as 'living beyond ones means'". Sapa ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
