LETTER: Corruption is more complex than black vs white
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Steven Friedman’s main argument in his most recent column is that the R1-trillion worth (at least) of corruption that happened during the Jacob Zuma era is because “the political deal of 1994 left much of the economy untouched” and in white hands (New ways are needed to deal with deeply entrenched corruption (, August 4).
He says this corruption will continue until the “deep-rooted symptom of a still skewed economy” changes.
Really? Just as cancer can’t be beaten by taking a Panado, corruption doesn’t come to an end when you flip a switch or change the hands in the till. Ask any CEO of an SA company fleeing Nigeria and they will mention widespread (endemic) corruption. Yet Nigeria became independent exactly 60 years ago.
SA as a country could have done so much better over the past decade, especially since the hard yards were made in the period 1999-2009. It was not to be; today we live in probably the only country (apart, perhaps, from North Korea) on the planet where it is more lucrative to work in the public than private sector. That was the main and only economic policy of the Zuma regime.
I wonder how strong Friedman’s argument will stand if we use Angola and Zimbabwe as close and recent examples of endemic corruption on this continent, which keeps the majority of its people in poverty. Angola became independent in 1975, and since the turn of the century has become relatively stable. This coincided with the longest economic boom in modern life, driven by China’s hunger for Africa’s (and Angola’s) natural resources.
With almost no former colonists left and after a destructive civil war, one can safely assume the economic playing fields were level for the fruits of the economic boom (oil touched $150 per barrel) that followed, to benefit ordinary Angolans. Not so: today José dos Santos lives in a luxury villa overlooking the Mediterranean, while his two children are investigated for corruption of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, ordinary Angolans still have the lowest life expectancy and highest infant mortality rates in the world.
To the east in Zimbabwe, a similar scenario played itself out after Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF came to power in 1980. When he died in 2019, Mugabe had amassed a personal fortune of $10m, while his country today only exists in name. Yet it had the clear potential to ...
He says this corruption will continue until the “deep-rooted symptom of a still skewed economy” changes.
Really? Just as cancer can’t be beaten by taking a Panado, corruption doesn’t come to an end when you flip a switch or change the hands in the till. Ask any CEO of an SA company fleeing Nigeria and they will mention widespread (endemic) corruption. Yet Nigeria became independent exactly 60 years ago.
SA as a country could have done so much better over the past decade, especially since the hard yards were made in the period 1999-2009. It was not to be; today we live in probably the only country (apart, perhaps, from North Korea) on the planet where it is more lucrative to work in the public than private sector. That was the main and only economic policy of the Zuma regime.
I wonder how strong Friedman’s argument will stand if we use Angola and Zimbabwe as close and recent examples of endemic corruption on this continent, which keeps the majority of its people in poverty. Angola became independent in 1975, and since the turn of the century has become relatively stable. This coincided with the longest economic boom in modern life, driven by China’s hunger for Africa’s (and Angola’s) natural resources.
With almost no former colonists left and after a destructive civil war, one can safely assume the economic playing fields were level for the fruits of the economic boom (oil touched $150 per barrel) that followed, to benefit ordinary Angolans. Not so: today José dos Santos lives in a luxury villa overlooking the Mediterranean, while his two children are investigated for corruption of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, ordinary Angolans still have the lowest life expectancy and highest infant mortality rates in the world.
To the east in Zimbabwe, a similar scenario played itself out after Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF came to power in 1980. When he died in 2019, Mugabe had amassed a personal fortune of $10m, while his country today only exists in name. Yet it had the clear potential to ...
