Just the weapon SA needs to end rot - The Citizen

The ANC's parliamentary caucus recently came out guns blazing by declaring war on corruption in a statement reacting to a briefing by Minister of Justice Mmamoloko Kubayi on the government's legislative agenda.

The caucus seems to think money laundering and the concealment of illicit wealth is the country's biggest corruption problem. It is not. The abuse of public money through a complicated procurement system is the biggest driver of corruption.

While the draft Regulation of Trusts Bill, might well close the door on opaque financial structures, there is a door that remains wide open: the tension between valueformoney and racebased preferential procurement highlighted by the Zondo commission which continues to be abused.

The Institute of Race Relations' Value For Money Bill addresses this procurement tension and provides MPs across the political spectrum with the strongest weapon in the war against corruption.

The institute has polled on this issue: eight in voters want government to procure on a valueformoney basis. This is why the institute has recently urged MPs to urgently debate the valueformoney recommendations made by the state capture commission.

It is unashamedly in the public's interest: South Africans deserve a government that respects their money. If the ANC's parliamentary caucus is ready to take concrete action, it should consider the Value For Money Bill as the strongest, most accessible weapon to defeat corruption.

Chris Patterson

Institute of Race Relations