Public perception in Swaziland is that corruption within Government is ‘rife’, according to a new
survey just published.
About 79 percent of 3,090 people interviewed said this in a survey conducted
by the Swazi Ministry of Justice and Constitution Affairs through the
Anti-Corruption Commission.
The Observer on Saturday
newspaper (9 December 2017) published some of the survey’s results. It said, ‘Within
the private sector and chiefdoms the respondents agreed that there were
elements of corruption there, 36 percent and 29 percent concurred respectively.’
It added, ‘The survey states that the rural councils, bobandlancane
(imiphakatsi) is where the corruption is perceived to be.
‘The report states that perceived major causes of corruption are poverty
(58 percent), unemployment (54 percent) and greed (41 percent).
‘It is agreed that corruption comes in these following forms; giving and
receiving bribes is high at 73 percent, abuse of power at 66 percent, misuse of
public funds at 44 percent and misuse of public assets and facilities is at 40
percent.
The survey said that corruption was also evident in education,
transportation, civic groups, town councils, manufacturing, construction and
the media.
Corruption in Swaziland is not new. In June 2017, the Open Society Initiative for Southern
Africa (OSISA) reported the kingdom, which is ruled by King Mswati
III as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, was riddled with corruption
in both private and public places.
It said, ‘The
results of grand corruption are there for all to see in the ever increasing
wealth of high-level civil servants and officers of state.’
It added, ‘For
a long time the police, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry
and Trade as well as the Department of Customs and Excise have often been implicated
in corrupt practices.’
It gave
many examples including the case of the government propaganda organisation
Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service (SBIS) where E 1.6 million (US$120,000)
was paid to service providers for the maintenance of a machine that was neither
broken nor in use. The officer who
authorised the bogus job cards has since been promoted and transferred to
another government department.
The report
called The effectiveness of anti-corruption
agencies in Southern Africa stated, ‘This type of behaviour is
common albeit covert and therefore difficult to monitor as goods and services
are undersupplied or rerouted for personal use. The results of grand corruption
are there for all to see in the ever increasing wealth of high-level civil servants
and officers of state.’
It added,
‘It has been suggested that Swaziland has no less than 31 millionaires who are
junior government officials. In 2005, the then minister of finance Majozi
Sithole estimated that corruption was costing the Swazi economy approximately E40
million a month.’
See also
SWAZILAND ‘RIDDLED WITH CORRUPTION’
ARMY PROBES SELF OVER CORRUPTION
‘ARMY AMONG MOST CORRUPT IN WORLD’
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