The University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Combating Corruption Summit has put South Africa’s fight against corruption and the question of accountability firmly in the spotlight, with Justice and Constitutional Development Minister ,Mmamoloko Kubayi, stating that the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has recovered R8.3 billion through its anti-corruption efforts.
Opening the third annual UJ Combating Corruption Summit on Wednesday, Minister Kubayi explained that the amount recovered by the AFU had increased from approximately R6 billion reported at last year’s Summit. She attributed the progress to strengthened collaboration between law-enforcement agencies and anti-corruption structures.
The Minister’s address also placed the spotlight on a broader challenge facing South Africa’s fight against corruption: ensuring that those who enable corrupt activities, including professionals, are themselves held accountable.
“These successes are in part because of AFU strengthened collaboration work with anti-corruption task teams, inter-agency working group on illicit financial flows. These are systems that we’ve worked or we are working on, but also these are some of the work that we are doing in partnership, not only with government but also with private sector,” Kubayi said.
Using the UJ Summit as a platform to challenge South Africa’s broader accountability ecosystem, Kubayi called on professional bodies, including those representing the accounting and legal professions, to act against professionals found to have aided or abetted corrupt activities.
She added that its complementary agency, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), had recovered assets and cash to the tune of R936 million against a target of R1 billion over the past year.
“I need to highlight what is important about the work that is being done by SIU. SIU just doesn’t recover, but also, it’s able to stop contracts so that we don’t have to come back and recover, so we are able to stop in the midst of a contract, so that money does not get to be wasted,” Kubayi said.
However, the Minister stressed that recovering money and assets is only one part of the fight against corruption and challenged the justice and accounting fraternities to demonstrate what action they had taken against professionals implicated in corrupt activities.
“I do hope, as we have this conference, we have invited some of these judges so that they can come in and account. Or as we do our work in the public domain, we must ask them how many of them have been able to hold those who have been listed accountable. For example, the chartered accountant body have they been able to withdraw any licenses? The legal practice council. How many individuals, in terms of the list that they’ve been referred to by, they’ve been able to have? And I say this because accountability has to be from everyone. All of us as role players, not only by this date, because fighting crime and corruption in the country is everybody’s business,” she said.
The Minister said platforms such as UJ’s Combating Corruption Summit are important because they create space for different sectors of society to confront the country’s corruption challenges and develop practical solutions.
“It is those types of conversations that can put our heads together and come up with solutions that can help build a sustainable and effective anti-corruption institutions in our country. Building strong, independent institutions is the cornerstone of any sustainable effort to prevent, detect, and prosecute corruption.”
Now in its third year, the UJ Combating Corruption Summit brings together stakeholders from across government, business, law enforcement, the justice and legal professions, civil society, community and faith-based organisations, and academia.
The Summit places UJ as a convening platform for critical national conversations, bringing together different sectors to interrogate the causes of corruption, examine the effectiveness of existing accountability mechanisms and consider tangible solutions to strengthen South Africa’s response.
UJ’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Letlhokwa Mpedi said the Summit is closely aligned with the University’s Strategic Plan 2035 and its commitment to integrity, accountability, transparency and social justice.
“We say in that plan that we earn trust through integrity, and that honesty, transparency, accountability, openness, fairness, and social justice must underpin all our endeavours. We say it because we understand that a university, of all institutions, cannot credibly convene a conversation on corruption unless it is prepared to hold itself to the same standard it asks of government, business and civil society,” Prof Mpedi said.
He emphasised that accountability must extend beyond government and become a shared responsibility across society.
“It is one we owe each other, precisely because, as the constitution reminds us, South Africa belongs to all who live in it. United in our diversity, we are because we are accountable to one another. Let that be the working definition of leadership we take from this room and let it travel with you well beyond these three days into the institutions and the communities you each represent.”
The UJ Combating Corruption Summit continues on Thursday and Friday, with further discussions expected to focus on strengthening accountability, empowering communities and whistleblowers, institutional integrity and ethical leadership.
Among the highlights on the programme is a keynote address by National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Advocate Andy Mothibi, titled “Inclusive Integrity in Action: Empowering Communities, Institutions and Whistleblowers to Strengthen South Africa’s Fight Against Corruption”.
A panel discussion, “The Accountability Chain: Why Corruption Survives and How the Chain Can Be Broken”, will feature Wayne Duvenage (OUTA), Lebogang Ramafoko (Corruption Watch), Leonard Lekgetho (SIU) and Gerrie Nel (AfriForum Private Prosecution Unit).
Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka will deliver a keynote address titled “Integrity Is Everyone’s Business: Building an Accountability Culture from the Ground Up”.
A fireside conversation titled “Integrity Under Pressure: Leadership When the Stakes Are Highest” will feature Songezo Zibi, SCOPA Chairperson, and Bongani Sibanyoni, Executive Head: Compliance & Governance at Nedbank CIB.
The Summit is part of UJ’s broader commitment to creating platforms where research, public policy, professional expertise and societal perspectives can intersect to address complex challenges facing South Africa.
