South African Civil Society Anti-Corruption initiatives

1. South African Civil Society Anti-Corruption initiatives Prepared for: Public Service and Administration Portfolio Committee Parliament, 26 March 2003 Prepared by: Hennie van Vuuren

2. Presentation outline: • The potential contribution of CSO’s in fighting corruption. • CSO-Anti-Corruption activity • The Media • Sectoral/Cross-Sectoral Initiatives • Mobilising and monitoring as a CS challenge • Corruption within NGO’s • Key challenges facing CSO’s • Recommendations

3. Introduction • Civil Society: includes all not-for-profit organisations and the media • SA has as many as 98 000 Civil Society Organisations (CSO’s) • SA Civil Society vibrant - but faces challenge of debunking myth that fighting corruption is to be equated with questioning the integrity of our democracy.

4. The potential contribution of CSO’s in fighting corruption • Promoting Accountability • Blowing the whistle • Promoting Service Delivery • Sharing resources in the fight against corruption

5. CSO Anti-Corruption activity • SA CSO’s which primarily focus on transparency and accountable governance are active in the following areas: • Advocacy • Research • Faith based organisations • Membership organisations • A silent majority of ‘other’ actors?

6. Advocacy • The Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) • Transparency South Africa (T-SA) • Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) • The Public Information & Monitoring Services (PIMS)- Idasa

7. Research • Institute for Security Studies (ISS) • The Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)

8. Faith based organisations • National Religious Leaders Forum (NRLF) • Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM)

9. Membership Organisations • Trade Unions • South African National NGO Coalition ( SANGOCO)

10. The silent majority of anti-corruption CSO’s? • Many more CSO’s may be involved in anti-corruption activities than we are aware of. • CORE/Idasa survey of ‘the State of Civil Society in South Africa’ notes that 62% of respondents run programmes and projects in an area loosely defined as “Transparency and Governance”. • Need to develop organic database of CSOs’ active in combating corruption.

11. The Media • SA fortunate to have a largely free press. • Often criticised for a harbouring ‘political motives’ in exposing graft. • Sensational nature of some stories may influence public opinion. • Survey: Investigative journalists expose 8.4% of corruption cases. • Press are reporting good news stories as well. • Journalists under pressure from both politicians and growing corporate nature of media industry. • Need to develop capacity of journalists to expose corruption.

12. Sectoral Initiatives • Has the potential to be a catalyst for developing a network of CSO’s active in combating corruption • This goal has not been fully realised to date. Cross - Sectoral Initatives National: • National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF) Provincial: • Eastern Cape Network Against Corruption (NAC)-(defunct)

13. Mobilising and Monitoring - a CS challenge • Capacity is required for civil society to effectively monitor corruption. • Need to raise awareness amongst CSO’s of the role they can play in combating corruption thereby building a broad-based CS anti-corruption network.

14. Corruption within CSO’s • A cause for concern although often not highlighted in the media • CSO’s are regulated by the requirements of the Non Profit Organisations (NPO) Act as well voluntary codes such as the SANGOCO code of ethics • According to a PSC/T-SA/KPMG survey: - 88% of CSO’s surveyed have a Code of Conduct. - 72% of CSO’s have a reporting mechanism to protect employees who report ethical or legal violations

15. Key CSO Challenges • the loss of leadership skills from CS to business and government has been severe • the diversion of donor resources from CSO’s to bilateral government to government agreements as well as a general reduction in the proportion of aid monies flowing to post-apartheid SA • corruption does not always feature as top priority for all CSO’s .

16. Recommendations • Developing CS Political Will • Knowing who is doing what • Building CSO capacity • Building CSO Anti-corruption capacity • Promoting Internal Accountability • Growing the networks • Monitoring implementation • What next – the role of research

17. South African Civil Society Anti-Corruption initiatives Prepared for: Public Service and Administration Portfolio Committee Parliament, 26 March 2003 Prepared by: Hennie van Vuuren