Interfaith forum: ‘Kleptocracy at the core’ of SA’s socioeconomic crisis

The Interfaith Forum for South Africa conference today wraps up its sitting in Boksburg. The body, comprising the clergy, traditional leaders and other organs of civil society, is expected to adopt a wide range of resolutions to address the socioeconomic crisis.

These include endorsing a push by world-acclaimed Justice Richard Goldstone for the establishment of the International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC).

Calling for “a state of emergency”, delegates identified corruption – largely linked to billions lost in public tenders – as one of the key factors.

This, they argued, has rendered government unable to fulfil its mandate of creating a developmental state.

In his address, Goldstone, who has served as judge in the Constitutional Court and on several United Nations bodies and is currently vice-chair of Integrity Initiatives International and an ardent advocate for the creation of the IACC, implored delegates to support his initiative “to uproot corruption”.

The forum, said Goldstone, “has been called in response to the state of crisis in which our country finds itself today”.

“In our country, on our continent and in the wider world, corruption lies at the heart of untold misery and especially for the poor.

“It magnifies the inequality that undermines their dignity and deprives them of hope for a better future.

“Successful eradication of corruption can go a long way to remove many of the evils that bedevil our society in South Africa and beyond.

“Corruption is very much a human rights issue,” maintained Goldstone.

“Corruption on the scale of state capture would not be possible without the nefarious and complicit role of private business.

“Criminal co-conspirators around the world – in banks, law firms, real estate agencies and other financial service providers – provide essential aid to kleptocrats in the transnational crime of money laundering.”

“To facilitate their criminal activities, kleptocrats have gutted their domestic criminal justice systems – having taken control of the prosecuting authorities, the police and frequently the courts.”

A prime example is ex-president Jacob Zuma “who, with the Guptas, enabled the state to be looted on an industrial scale”.

“The detail can be found in the lengthy report by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. And, as he complained months ago, our executive and legislature still fail to act robustly in carrying out urgent recommendations in the report.”

Goldstone said the IACC “will hold kleptocrats and their co-conspirators – those professional enablers – accountable when national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so”.