IN the wake of the recent PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) scandal, as well as the question of the R500-billion and other corruption issues in the country, South Africans are called to don orange face masks every Friday in the run-up to World Anti-Corruption Day on 9 December.
The Orange Mask Campaign has taken hold in and around Durban, as well as parts of Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, and is rapidly gaining momentum.
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The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation calls on society to participate in #OrangeMaskFridays which forms part of a broad societal effort to bring Covid-19 corruption to a halt, and is being driven by a number of civil society organisations.
The campaign has been initiated by the Active Citizens Movement, and has so far enjoyed rolling success over three successive Fridays.
Why orange?
According to the organisers, orange is symbolic of the orange overalls which Covid-19 looters should be wearing in prison.
It also draws from Archbishop Thabo Makgoba’s call for 2020 to be the ‘Year of the Orange Overalls’.
The archbishop shared this view last year when he called for greater accountability for state capture.
‘Our call puts power back in the hands of the public. It is us, the ordinary public, who has entrusted government to look after our money and we insist that it be used wisely and prudently to benefit society,’ said the organisers.
‘We demand the full details of all Covid-19 procurement, presented in a way that provides the unit cost of items and services rendered.
‘It should include the details of companies that were given contracts, and whether they had any track record of work in that particular field.
‘We also want to know who the directors of these companies are. If companies are found guilty of corruption and price inflation, both the entities and their directors should be prevented from doing any future business with the state.
What can you do?
Wear an orange mask every Friday as you go about your day.
Like the campaign’s Facebook page, follow #OrangeMaskFridays on Twitter, and tweet photographs of yourself wearing your orange mask, and don’t forget the hashtag.
‘This month, we will celebrate our rich, diverse and common heritage on September 24. What we will not celebrate, is a growing culture of corruption that is becoming endemic within the public and private sector.’
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