SA joins global drive against graft
Shaun Benton
15 November 2005South Africa's anti-corruption drive is getting major new weaponry, with key international anti-corruption instruments in the pipeline.
South Africa is expected to accede soon to the International Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, an issue on Parliament's agenda this week.
In addition, President Thabo Mbeki is expected to ratify South Africa's accession to the African Union's Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, a continent-wide measure.
Combating corruption
Briefing a parliamentary committee on Thursday, anti-corruption specialist Ishara Bodasing told MPs that South Africa was the first African country to be invited to participate in the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
The convention, an anti-corruption instrument of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a powerful grouping of industrialised Western countries, obliges signatories to outlaw the bribing of foreign public officials by one of their nationals.
South Africa already meets the requirements of the convention with its stringent anti-corruption legislation, Bodasing told MPs.
Financial Intelligence Centre Act
This legislation includes the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica) that combats money laundering and financing of terrorism, as well as the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, passed into domestic law in 2004.
Section 5 of this Act outlaws corrupt activities in relation to foreign public officials, Bodasing said, while other sections of the Act make it a duty to report corrupt transactions.
"Bribery in international business transactions raises some serious concerns for us," said Bodasing, who is a senior anti-corruption specialist within the Department of Public Service and Administration.
The bribery of a foreign public official by a South African citizen, which the OECD convention states must be a criminal offence for its signatory countries, is already an offence and is prosecutable under South African law, Bodasing added.
Improving foreign direct investment
Joining the OECD convention on combating bribery, she argued, would have "the upshot of improving foreign direct investment for our country."
Other benefits would include opportunities for training government and private sector officials.
And with the OECD interest in promoting regional harmonisation of anti-corruption legislation, joining the convention would allow for "further opportunities for engagement on a regional and continental level."
Such engagement would involve integrating South African legislation with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional programme against corruption and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
The latter has been given approval by Parliament and is expected to be signed by President Mbeki within the next few days.
Clean business
The effect of joining the OECD anti-bribery convention provides "a paradigm in which business is kept clean" and business transactions kept within the parameters of the law.
The convention does not apply to other forms of corruption such as nepotism and "trafficking in influence," Bodasing said; neither does it apply to bribery that is purely domestic, or bribery in which the recipient of the benefit is not a public official.
In addition, it would not be applied retrospectively, she said, responding to a question from an MP.
Source: BuaNews
