Corruption & Society Oblivious Of The Own Goal

A few weeks ago the president of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, addressed the nation in parliament.... in which he touched on numerous topics such as unemployment and the COVID-19 pandemic. As is the norm in parliament, he reflected on the progress we have made in responding to the pandemic, how we have dealt with some of the socio-economic issues we face, which ones have emerged recently, and outlined plans on how to continue the fight against them. He was given a round of applause every now and then. Things, however, took a major turn when he touched on the issue of corruption, where there was suddenly commotion in the parliament.

What is corruption? It is a very broad term; it can go from a public official using public funds to enrich themselves, to an employer accepting bribes from candidates so they can get the upper hand. At the end of the day, we all perceive it to be a bad thing, and its demise is our wish. We all perceive the land we live in to be one of opportunity, and when we get robbed of that, especially by the same people who claim they are here to serve our needs, it is detrimental to our mental health. And, it is a global problem, only that its severity differs among nations.

President Ramaphosa was not one to turn a blind eye to possibly the most binding constraint to our societal development. He started a "Step Aside" initiative, where a public official found guilty of any form of corruption would excuse themselves, stepping aside as he calls it. Several arrests and suspensions of public officials found guilty of corrupt activities have been made, one suspension currently being of a former Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC) and premier of the Free State province, Ace Magashule, awaiting his trial after being found guilty of a tender fraud worth over R200 million. All hell is breaking loose, and there are no signs of the president ever slowing down.

Some research papers on corruption arrive at basically the same conclusion, that measures must be put in place for public officials to hold themselves accountable for their actions, leading to the justice system taking over if need be. Others even go as far as noting that as problematic as we all say corruption is, it has never really been a topic of interest among researchers, until recently. As a result, there is no sufficient data on it! This is important because regardless of what we say about corruption, without the figures (and their meanings) we are fighting a losing battle. It will obviously take years for us to have concrete data on it, but eventually we will get there. Very good, but what if there is more than meets the eye? Each and every one of us is all about fulfilling our desires, and as long as that is done, nothing else matters. The problem is that since corruption is a very broad term and therefore can also exist at an individual level, nobody complains about it when they stand to benefit from it. If you gave every individual in society a scenario where all of their wildest desires would be fulfilled, but it would have to involve some form of corruption along the way, nobody would reject it. Our desires keep us awake at night, and so their fulfilment is the only justice there is for us. And this is the problem, because for anything to work, we all have to be on the same page; how can we win the battle when we are incosistent with our own perceptions of corruption? Perhaps the question should not be whether corruption is a bad thing, but whether we can stay true to our definitions even when our desires are at the receiving end of the benefits of such acts. Corruption does not only exist at a state level, but also at an individual level, and more problematic at the latter. We are oblivious of the own goal we have scored, instead we just blame it on the systems in place as it is easier. Yes, the way the systems in place are set up dictates the possibilities of human activity, but the fact that morality sometimes evades our minds when our desires are at stake is the real issue we need to look at.

If we are to have a winning chance against corruption, we need to look at the root cause of the problem; we need to  understand the psychology behind desires, because the figures of funds embezzled, for example, will only freak us out. Not to belittle the efforts of president Ramaphosa or imply that they are futile, it is just that there is more than meets the eye. Corruption is more of a function of desires than it is a function of the way the systems in place are set up.

It is a very complex issue, perhaps more than we can ever comprehend, but that is no reason to surrender to it. We are humans, and our ability to innovate has taken us places we would never have imagined. The efforts of president Ramaphosa are a great step towards the right direction, and so they deserve praise. We will get there one day; all hail Mr. President!!