As many ask why so many claims of corruption are levelled at government officials, including President Jacob Zuma and many of his cronies, Parliament has admitted that the NACF has not met once in over four years to discuss or address the growing cases of corruption in the public service.

While corruption is being described by opposition parties as “the cancer that stops service delivery to the millions of South Africans”, the Public Service Commission (PSC) created the NACF to regularly meet and come up with institutional measures to prevent all forms of corruption at every level of government.

Responding to parliamentary questions, the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, admitted the work of the NACF has grinder to a halt several years ago and that the PSC has failed to give effect to its constitutional mandate to exercise its powers and perform its functions.

The Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration, the Democratic Alliance’s Annette Lovemore, says corruption fighters cannot afford to just go on leave. It undermines economic development and growth needed for job creation. “This dereliction is indicative of the ANC government’s hollow commitment to fighting corruption in the public service and elsewhere.”

Lovemore has now written to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration requesting that that the PSC – under which the NACF falls – appear before Parliament to answer questions about “this corruption-mongering state of affairs… The PSC has failed to give effect to its constitutional mandate to ‘exercise its powers and perform its functions without fear, favour or prejudice in the interest of the maintenance of effective and efficient public administration and a high standard of professional ethics in the public service’.”

CorruptionWatch.org.za says growing public sector corruption is saddening and shows how far the ruling elite have strayed from the example set by Nelson Mandela.  “Public funds are being diverted away from the public good towards private interests. Of course private sector corruption is also a problem, but until we get a handle on corruption in government, private sector corruption will continue to flourish.”