Root out corruption or face the consequences warns Tutu Foundation

A stark warning has been issued by the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation that the ANC risks losing power unless alleged corruption over the current Covid-19 crisis can be rooted out.
In a hard hitting statement, the foundation’s CEO Piyushi Kotecha said: “For the state, the window of opportunity is closing to demonstrate the courage and the muscle to act decisively and hold the culprits in its ranks accountable, regardless of who they are.
And she warned: “If it closes we must brace ourselves for turbulence. For, in democracies, when the people are ready, governments change.”
She recalled an earlier warning from 1998 when Archbishop Tutu himself had said: “There is no way in which you can assume that yesterday’s oppressed will not become tomorrow’s oppressor. We have seen it happen all over the world, and we shouldn’t be surprised if it happens here.”
Kotecha further condemned the culture of impunity that allows corruption to thrive.
“Impunity flourishes in the absence of enforcement. None of the big fish and few little ones ever get caught. The fact that our coronavirus defences have been looted is not a big surprise,” she said.
“South Africa seems stuck in a generational rut. Corrupt leaders have been tolerated largely out of strong emotional bonds to [the ANC] and its group of exceptional leaders who ultimately prevailed in the long struggle against apartheid.”
She urged society as a whole to “drag the corrupt from the dark corners they hide in, into the light”.
Saying: “Report the traffic officer asking you for a bribe, report the official who asks for commission when purchasing goods for government, report the company producing substandard goods and services ... build a culture of outrage and intolerance.”