ANC Today 

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Volume 7, No. 9, 9-15 March 2007

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THIS WEEK:

* Letter from the President: The imperative of women's emancipation 
* Social values: The struggle to change the 'surplus people'mindset 
* Report back: Africa unites against corruption 

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The imperative of women's emancipation

The day before this edition of ANC TODAY was published, our country joined the
rest of the world to mark International Women's Day, which falls on 8 March. We
would therefore like to take this opportunity to convey our sincere
congratulations and best wishes to the women of South Africa, Africa and the
rest of the world.

On 6 March, two days before this important day, Africa and her friends from
elsewhere in the world, had gathered in Accra to celebrate the 50th anniversary
of the epoch-making independence of Ghana. On this occasion, many correctly
recalled the statement made by Kwame Nkrumah on Independence Day in 1957, that
Ghana's independence would be meaningless unless it was also accompanied by the
liberation of the rest of our continent from colonial and white minority rule.

For many decades now, our movement has held this same perspective concerning the
issue of the liberation of women. Whatever words we have used, we have also
insisted that our national liberation from white minority rule and the legacy of
colonialism and apartheid would be meaningless unless it also meant the
liberation of the women of South Africa.

Consistent with this fundamental tenet of our movement and struggle, which
places the task of the emancipation of women as one of the central objectives of
our National Democratic Revolution (NDR), our National Executive Committee (NEC)
said in this year's January 8th Statement, to mark the 95th anniversary of the
ANC, that:

"We must also take care to ensure that women are integrally involved and
targeted in the design and implementation of our economic empowerment
programmes. As a section of society who, despite comprising more than half of
our people, continue to confront additional economic disadvantages, all our
programmes need to have a capacity to benefit and empower women. This will only
be achieved by involving women in the process, and ensuring that they are able
to help direct and monitor all the work in this regard."

Our National Executive Committee said this in the context of addressing what it
identified as the central task of the NDR - the intensification of the struggle
for the eradication of poverty. Thus it sought to make the unequivocal statement
that, as a movement, we must do everything necessary and possible to ensure that
the women of our country fully participate in defining what our country does in
this regard, benefit from all programmes adopted to eradicate poverty, help to
direct the implementation of these programmes, and participate in monitoring the
implementation of these programmes.

Thus our NEC sought to give practical expression to the strategic perspective of
our movement, that the emancipation of women is a defining feature of our NDR.
The challenge that faces us is that we must translate our words into practical
reality. In this regard, I would like to insist that our movement has the
capacity to match the words we utter with the actions we take. We will therefore
have nobody to blame if we do not realise the objective to organise the women of
our country to be activists for, and beneficiaries of development, consistent
with what our NEC said in the January 8th Statement.

Because of what some of our Members of Parliament, elected leaders of our
people, said, during the Debate on the State of the Nation Address, I said in
response that as we continue to confront the central challenge of the
fundamental transformation of our country, we must also focus, deliberately,
consciously and systematically, on the task to transform the South African mind.
Specifically, in this regard, I said:

"On all occasions when we meet as we have since last Friday, we speak of change
- some about our success in changing our society for the better, and others
about how we have failed to effect any significant change, each speaking from
his or her opposing trench, such that in the end we appear to be speaking about
different countries, one of which might be called South Africa, and the other,
to give it a name, whatever its meaning, might be called Azania.

"When we talk about change we speak, as we must do, about the number of jobs
created, about the number of houses built, about the provision of water,
sanitation and electricity and about rates of economic growth.

"But we rarely speak about the change or the absence of change in our minds.
Each time anybody dares to venture into this area, in many instances to decode a
vocabulary that has learnt to disguise old insults by presenting itself as the
vehicle for the dispassionate presentation of objective reality, a deluge of
condemnation descends on the daring soul, communicating the message to all who
would dare that these should forever be mindful of the advice - only fools rush
in where angels fear to tread!

"If I may, I would like to suggest that the fact that it was necessary, today,
to repeat verbatim what was said 10 years ago, makes an immensely sad statement
about us all. It must surely be a matter of profound distress that almost at the
end of the 13th year of our emancipation, questions must still be asked as to
whether we are, as a nation, capable of uniting to pursue a commonly defined
national agenda, as to whether it is to expect too much to believe that as
individual members of our society, we are capable of honestly asking ourselves
the questions - what more can we do, what can we contribute?"

Given its defining importance within the historic agenda of the NDR, and as we
celebrate International Women's Day, we have an obligation constantly and
honestly to ask ourselves whether we have done everything we need to do to
change the South African mind, so that, really and practically, we achieve daily
victories in the struggle for the emancipation of the women of our country!

Our movement, and our movement only among our national political formations,
took the eminently correct decision that in the aftermath of our 2006 Local
Government Elections, its elected municipal council representatives would be
constituted on the basis of gender equality - which has come to be described as
the 50-50 principle.

Later this year, our movement will hold its five-year Policy Conference. It must
surely be self-evident that this critically important Conference must and will
address the issue of gender equality, to ensure that our movement builds on our
decision and actions with regard to the last Local Government Elections, further
to entrench the principle and practice of gender equality in the fundamental
reconstruction of our society.

Again later this year, in December, we will convene in Limpopo, at the 52nd ANC
National Conference. This Conference will consider the decisions of the Policy
Conference, as well as debate and decide upon any other policy issues it may
identify. However, like the Policy Conference, it cannot avoid taking decisions
about the issue central to our democracy of gender equality.

Personally, while I must and will respect the decisions of the ANC Policy and
National Conferences, which will, as before, emanate from an open democratic
process in our movement, I cannot imagine that these Conferences would fail to
take decisions on the strategically important issues of:

* the amendment of the ANC Constitution to provide for gender equality in the
composition of the structures of our movement; and, 
* the amendment of theConstitution of the Republic again to provide for gender
equality in the institutions of state. 

In this regard, I would like to revert to what I said to conclude the National
Assembly Debate on the State of the Nation Address. Specifically, as I have
already indicated, I said: "When we talk about change we speak, as we must do,
about the number of jobs created, about the number of houses built, about the
provision of water, sanitation and electricity and about rates of economic
growth. But we rarely speak about the change or the absence of change in our
minds."

I refer to these comments because the struggle to achieve the emancipation of
women is, in good part, a struggle to defeat deeply entrenched social and
individual prejudices that present themselves to the people holding these
prejudices as obviously accepted and standard social norms.

This creates the immense difficulty that it becomes virtually impossible to
change the mind of the prejudiced person because he or she considers his or her
prejudice as self-evident truth, and draws comfort and sustenance from
empirically derived knowledge that a critical mass of members of society holds
the same views as the person who is a prisoner of prejudice.

Inevitably, in this context, we must consider the meaning of words. This is
because it is through language that human beings communicate thought and feeling
and what we have described as prejudice. Words therefore serve as an expression
of a state of mind and therefore an indication of behaviour that would derive
from this state of mind.

Because this Letter is written in the English language, I will turn to a
universally accepted authority on the English language, the Oxford English
Dictionary, to address the issue of prejudice, which feeds the terribly ugly
social phenomenon that is generally politely described as gender discrimination.
Specifically, I would like to demonstrate that the apparently distinct and
separate words, "prejudice", "belief", and "faith", essentially describe the
same mindset.

Applied to the issue of the social (universal) acceptance of the practice of the
oppression of women, the understanding of these words as manifestations of the
state of the human mind and soul, should help us to understand why it is that,
in addition to changing the material world that objectively defines a
subservient social position for women, we must also confront a mindset that,
because of prejudice or belief or faith, views it as a normal social
prescription that women should occupy a subsidiary position in the ordering of
human affairs.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "prejudice" as "a feeling, favourable or
unfavourable, towards any person or thing, prior to or not based on actual
experience; a prepossession; a bias or leaning to one side; an unreasoning
predilection or objection".

The same Dictionary describes "faith" as "what is believed, or required to be
believed, on a particular subject". Again, this Dictionary defines "belief" as
"assent of the mind to a statement, or to the truth or a fact beyond
observation, on the testimony of another, or to a fact or truth on the evidence
of consciousness".

Thus when we talk of a mindset that prescribes discrimination against women, we
are talking of the stubborn mental condition that is informed by feelings not
based on actual experience, by what is believed and required to be believed, and
truths beyond observation, requiring no empirical verification, an unreasoning
predilection. All these definitions describe a mindset that is not open to
change through rational discussion, which, in part, is what feeds the scourge of
the practice of the oppression of women.

From 1975, the United Nations started observing 8 March as International Women's
Day, which was first observed in 1911. In this regard, it has been said that "in
adopting its resolution on the observance of Women's Day, the General Assembly
cited two reasons: to recognise the fact that securing peace and social progress
and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the
active participation, equality and development of women; and to acknowledge the
contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.

"For the women of the world, the Day's symbolism has a wider meaning: it is an
occasion to review how far they have come in their struggle for equality, peace
and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network and mobilise for
meaningful change."

In this context, when he addressed a conference on Women in Local Government in
August last year, Minister Essop Pahad said correctly that: "Despite (the)
Constitutional commitments to gender equality we must acknowledge that women in
South Africa still face huge challenges. Despite their valuable contributions to
the survival and maintenance of their families and communities as caregivers and
economic providers, women continue to face social, economic and cultural
barriers in realising their full potential and equal rights in society.

"Women in South Africa continue to confront the challenge of poverty, live in
informal settlements, and work in the 'second economy' as street vendors, poorly
paid service employees and domestic workers. Women continue to be subjected to
discrimination, and stereotyping, domestic violence and sexual abuse. They are
underpaid compared to their male counterparts for work of equal value. They are
underrepresented in the decision making centres in the public sector and their
representation in the decision making centres of the private sector is much
worse."

In April 2001, Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen, delivered a lecture at the
Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, which was later published under the
title, "Many faces of Gender Inequality". In this regard, Amartya Sen said:

"It was more than a century ago, in 1870, that Queen Victoria wrote to Sir
Theodore Martin complaining about 'this mad, wicked folly of 'Woman's Rights''.
The formidable empress certainly did not herself need any protection that the
acknowledgment of women's rights might offer. Even at the age of eighty, in
1899, she could write to AJ Balfour, "We are not interested in the possibilities
of defeat; they do not exist." That, however, is not the way most people's lives
go - reduced and defeated as they frequently are by adversities. And within each
community, nationality and class, the burden of hardship often falls
disproportionately on women. The afflicted world in which we live is
characterised by deeply unequal sharing of the burden of adversities between
women and men...

"When anti-female bias in action (such as sex-specific abortion) reflects the
hold of traditional masculinist values from which mothers themselves may not be
immune, what is needed is not just freedom of action but also freedom of thought
- in women's ability and willingness to question received values. Informed and
critical agency is important in combating inequality of every kind. Gender
inequality, including its many faces, is no exception."

We too must continue to act as an informed and critical agency to combat the
persisting gender inequality in our country, as described by Essop Pahad. To do
this successfully, we must constantly challenge the prejudices we carry in our
heads, which act as barriers to a speedy advance towards the realisation of the
goals of gender equality and the emancipation of women. As long as we allow
these prejudices to persist and inform our actions, so long will we not be able
truthfully to describe ourselves as revolutionary democrats.

Thabo Mbeki

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SOCIAL VALUES <Viewpoint - Sanki Mthembi-Mahanyele>

The struggle to change the 'surplus people' mindset

I am writing this article because it has become necessary to speak on a matter
that has hurt and continues to hurt many of us as South Africans, very deeply.
Our Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, with whom I am privileged to
serve as a member of the ANC National Executive and National Working Committees,
is currently in hospital receiving treatment. Our movement and government and
many of our people have wished her a speedy recovery.

All of us conveyed these messages to her in the normal course because this is
very much part of our culture both as a people and as a movement. In the period
since our liberation, we have also not hesitated to wish good health even to
those in our society who were once our enemies.

The public statements attributed to Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dianne Kohler-
Barnard concerning Comrade Manto came as a big shock. The media reported that
Kohler-Barnard had called on President Thabo Mbeki to remove Tshabalala-Msimang
from office "before she dies there".

The media also reported that Kohler-Barnard said: "All the spin doctors are
saying (her prolonged stay in hospital last year) was a lung infection, but no
lung infection is going to make you incoherent. She has major health problems;
she hasn't been open with the country about it.

"If a person is no longer mentally capable of handling their role in their
position of which they have huge responsibilities, then they must do the
honourable thing and step down, not hang in until the last moment because it
does the country no good at all."

These reports said, "Kohler-Barnard said it was the president's duty to respect
Tshabalala-Msimang's health and not allow a situation where another minister
died in office, referring to the deaths of ministers Steve Tshwete, Dullah Omar
and Stella Sigcau."

In the same media report, Essop Pahad responded to these comments by saying, "I
really think it's regrettable that the DA should stoop so low in terms of
commenting on the health or otherwise of a minister or anybody else for that
matter. If you think someone's ill, surely common decency is to wish them well?"

In the period since 1994, most unfortunately, our movement, government and
nation has lost through death through natural causes, four of our ministers.
These were Joe Slovo in 1995, Steve Tshwete in 2002, Dullah Omar in 2004, and
Stella Sigcau in 2006, all of whom passed away while serving as ministers.

I served in our National Government from 1994 to 2002, both as Deputy Minister
and Minister. In addition to the ANC, I was therefore privileged to work with
the deceased comrades also as a member of government.

All these comrades passed away while holding ministerial office, after short or
longer periods of illness. In all instances, both Presidents Mandela and Mbeki
appointed acting ministers during the period of the illness of the comrades
concerned.

Until Kohler-Barnard made a public demand that the Minister of Health should be
replaced because she is ill, I cannot recall any other instance when anybody
made such a call, including when the comrades to whom I have referred fell ill.
It therefore came as a complete surprise that this time, as DA spokesperson on
health, Kohler-Barnard decided to make the call she issued.

In the context of this issue, the ANC Parliamentary Caucus said:

"The reference to the Minister as a 'terrifying sight' and that she must be
removed from office 'before dying there' by the DA MP, as quoted in the weekend
press, is a shocking defiance of basic standards of human behaviour. Ubuntu is a
basic human behaviour that should crosscut every cultural orientation. It is
indeed sad when political opposition stoops so low that an opposition member
takes delight on the personal hardships of those she differs with.

The Cabinet described Kohler-Barnard's comments as "appalling and extremely
distasteful".

I could identify fully with comments made attorney Christine Qunta, who said in
an article: "The suggestion by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that the Minister of
Health Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang might die and she should be removed from
office before she does so, offends deeply against the cultural norms of black
people in this country. One can only imagine what effect it had on her family,
especially on her husband, children and grandchildren.

"The blow-by-blow description by one journalist of the minister's supposed
incoherence while chairing a cluster briefing of ministers after the opening of
parliament, was particularly gratuitous and seemed designed to humiliate her and
those who care about her. One newspaper even used the DA's call as an editorial.

"It is rather sad that while privately enraged, black people remained silent. It
was left to the cabinet to express the sense of revulsion felt by them. This
display of insensitivity is not the first, nor will it be the last. It's best
understood within a context. In doing so, it is worthwhile to recall the respect
with which the media dealt with FW de Klerk when he took ill in the course of
last year. His spokesperson requested privacy and this was respected.

"Towards the end of his life PW Botha had a stroke and was hospitalised on
several occasions. I do not recall the unseemly invasion of privacy visited upon
Dr Tshabalala-Msimang or the glee with which her initial illness was greeted by
the commercial media and opposition parties being visited upon either of these
two men or their families. Nor do I recall black people, who still bear the
scars of their deeds, saying anything that could be regarded as wishing them
dead...

"The pathology of race, whose DNA has been woven deeply into the consciousness
of this nation, presents us with an explanation.

"The lack of respect for black people and the concomitant contempt for black
life runs deep in this society. Dragging a person behind a truck, throwing a man
into a lion enclosure, or shooting a young child because to the white farmer he
resembled a dog, are the extreme expressions of this psychosis...

"In the midst of the heated debates about crime, should we not analyse the
impact that apartheid has had on our own humanity and the extent to which such
dehumanisation contributes to a culture of violence and racial victimisation? As
abhorrent as the comments were about Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, they served to
remind us that we are a long distance from shedding the chains that apartheid
imprisoned us with."

These challenging comments set the stage for me to return to the issue of
ubuntu. I believe that in the time I have served in government and at Chief
Albert Luthuli House, and partly from personal experience, I have come to
understand something about the thinking of both Presidents Mandela and Mbeki in
this regard.

Both of them value greatly the comrades who have been developed by the movement
in struggle, and who have committed themselves faithfully to serve the people as
members of our movement. They are moved by a deeply-held feeling that all of us
should always find it very difficult to turn our backs on tried and tested
combatants for our liberation, even when these might make mistakes, take wrong
positions, or otherwise experience difficult times, such as ill-health.

When comrades Slovo, Omar and Sigcau suffered ill-health for relatively long
periods of time, our Presidents felt that everything needed to be done
constantly to reassure the indisposed comrades that our movement and country
still needed them, and therefore that they would not be relieved of their
ministerial duties.

In part this was driven by the knowledge that these comrades, including Comrade
Tshwete, were driven by an abiding determination always to serve the people
throughout their lives. Even as they suffered visibly from ill-health, they were
always determined to come to work because they felt that their absence from
work, even for serious health reasons, constituted a betrayal of their duty and
obligation to serve the people.

Repeatedly, I saw many examples of this determination to serve the people. Thus
I came to realise that both Presidents Mandela and Mbeki also understood that
any action to terminate the services of the comrades who were ill, would, in
reality, be to communicate the message to the afflicted comrades that the
movement had made the determination that they were no longer in a fit state to
serve the people as militants of our movement.

That, in fact, would come across to these comrades as a sentence of death that
would expedite the demise of comrades that both Presidents held in high esteem,
which neither would ever do. Some who do not understand what it meant to
sacrifice everything for the liberation of our people might denounce this, as
they have, as an unacceptable "loyalty to old comrades".

I have had absolutely no difficulty in understanding this, both because of my
more limited contribution to that liberation struggle, and the fact of having
been brought up in a culture that so values human life that our people find it
difficult to accept even the inevitable and foreseeable death of the very old,
and therefore plan for this eventuality.

In this regard, concerning the deepest regard for our best cadres, I recalled
what President Mbeki said at the funeral of Comrade Steve, that: "It is not our
part to mourn. It is our right and privilege to celebrate the fact that we were
blessed with so rare a gift of a fellow South African, who was simultaneously a
genuine friend, a trustworthy colleague, an activist and a leader, a patriot, an
internationalist, a human titan who surrendered his life to the cause of all
humanity, a principled revolutionary, a true comrade...

"When the sacrifices he had made brought freedom to our people, towards the end
of a century of extraordinary suffering, we said it remained the charge of all
patriots to serve the people of South Africa selflessly, without seeking
personal gain or glory, without arrogance and abuse of power, with honesty,
dedication and dignity. Until the day he died, Steve Tshwete lived up to this
injunction and served with distinction in the governments that our people have
elected freely since 1994."

For all the reasons I have stated, I found it deeply disturbing that Kohler-
Barnard could, in an offhand manner, to serve party political interests, talk as
easily and glibly as she obviously did, about Comrade Manto being relieved of
her duties, "before dying there (in office)". At first, this said to me that one
could not be a normal human being and talk so easily about the death of another
human being.

In time I have come to understand that perhaps what makes Kohler-Barnard and I
to respond differently to the illness of Comrade Manto was not because she was
less of a normal human being than I. Rather, we have been brought up according
to different value systems, with her seeing human beings being entitled to live
as long as they were of some utilitarian value. This value system gave birth to
the apartheid notion of "surplus people".

Christine Qunta's comments are relevant to the value system that produced this
concept and practice. They speak to the determination that Kohler-Barnard has
obviously made, that our Minister of Health has become "a surplus person".

I have no doubt whatsoever that Comrade Manto will recover from her illness.
Driven by everything in our being that teaches us to live according to the
ubuntu value system, we will, every day, pray for the speedy recovery of our
Minister of Health. We will continue to respect and accept the decision of
President Mbeki to appoint another Minister, our government's practice since
1994, to act for the Minister of Health until she is ready to resume work.

(I found it very strange and instructive that the DA thought it fit to propose
that Deputy Minister of Health Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge should be appointed to
act as Minister of Health, while finding it objectionable that the President has
delegated this role to Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe. This is not the place
for me to explain my understanding of this DA vote of confidence in the Deputy
Minister, which, I am certain, both the President and Deputy President of the
country also understand.)

Despite the feelings I have expressed here, I have nevertheless found it
difficult to say everything I have had to say. This was because I know that it
will be easy for the mischief-makers deliberately to misrepresent what I have
tried to communicate.

Despite this, I thought that I should speak my mind on this issue, because what
Kohler-Barnard said brought me face to face with the urgent need mentioned by
our President when he replied to this year's State of the Nation Address - the
need for us to put under the microscope the issue of the progress we have made
or not made, since the historic change of 1994, to change the South African
mind. What Kohler-Barnard said, and much else besides, sharply poses the
question of what our movement and government must do, today rather than
tomorrow, genuinely to entrench the values and practice of ubuntu throughout our
society.

In the meantime, once more I urge all decent human beings in our society to wish
our Minister of Health a speedy recovery and pray for this outcome.

We must condemn the callous view expressed by one caller to a radio station that
individuals holding public office should be compelled to have their medical
conditions made public so that the public may know whether or not the individual
is medically fit to hold that office. We must express disgust with the same
caller's insistence that Tshabalala-Msimang must say if "she has AIDS" and
whether or not she is on antiretroviral treament. Basic human decency would
require that we respect the rights of an individual serving in government no
more and no less than we would respect the rights of the caller, or any other
person in our society.

In this regard, we must also respect what Boyce Mkhize, Registrar of the Health
Professions Council of South Africa, said: "Every citizen of this country ought
to enjoy full protection of the law and constitutional rights enshrined in our
Bill of Rights. Every patient has a right to privacy and not to have their
illness or ailment disclosed without their consent. No member of the public is
entitled to know what the minister, or even the president suffers from, let
alone the causes of such ailment, as some excited journalists have attempted to
establish." 

I am also fully in agreement with what the National Association of People living
with HIV and AIDS (Napwa) said, that Tshabalala-Msimang's role and leadership
guidance is "more needed now than ever before. As the country is currently
finalising the new national country strategic plan and the revival of the SA
National Aids Council, her inputs and leadership are crucial." The organisation
had always appreciated and acknowledged the important role the minister had
played in leading the struggle for the transformation of the health care system
"for the betterment of the African population in general and the historically
disadvantaged communities in particular in this country".

Like Napwa, we are also aware "of the positive role that our Minister is playing
in the African and international health forums in speaking on behalf of the
African population on matters of health."

** Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele is the ANC Deputy Secretary General. 

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REPORT BACK

Africa unites against corruption

Last week we published an extract from a speech delivered by Minister of Public
Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi at the Africa Forum on
Fighting Corruption held in Ekurhuleni. This week we report on the outcomes of
this important continental event.

Seldom has a conference or forum attracted such attention across the continent
as the Africa Forum on Fighting Corruption, attended by over 400 participants
from across Africa. Talk shows on SABC Africa elicited calls from all over the
continent, sending a strong message that the people of Africa are fed up with
corruption, where the majority of peace-loving and law-abiding citizens are
exploited by those in positions of power and privilege.

The purpose of the forum was two-fold: firstly, to come up with a common African
position for the fifth Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding
Integrity, taking place in Sandton from 2-5 April 2007; and, secondly, to review
and consolidate Africa's anti-corruption initiatives.

What became apparent is that across the continent there are a plethora of
institutions and initiatives to fight corruption. What is lacking are the
resources and integration within and across borders to implement these
programmes effectively.

The forum came up with an historic declaration - the Ekurhuleni Declaration -
that recommends to the African Union, regional economic communities,
governments, business communities and civil society organisations:

* the acknowledgement by African leaders of the challenges of fighting
corruption collectively and individually; 
* the speedy ratification and accession to the African Union Convention on
Preventing and Combating Corruption, the regional anti-corruption instruments
and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption; 
* the effective coordination and harmonisation of reporting responsibilities
with respect to all the multilateral instruments on preventing and combating
corruption; 
* the establishment, implementation and application of laws that will give
practical effect to the letter and spirit of all the above anti-corruption
instruments; 
* the prioritisation of prevention and awareness-raising programmes including
the adoption of an African Anti-corruption Day; 
* increased support to independent national anti-corruption bodies and related
law enforcement bodies, including judicial bodies and the speedy establishment
of national anti-corruption bodies where such bodies do not exist; 
* the establishment of the Advisory Board envisaged in Article 22 of the AU
Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption as soon as feasible, but at
the latest within one year; 
* the creation of national compacts between governments, business, the media and
civil society organisations, which define the roles and responsibilities of all
parties in the fight against corruption; 
* strengthening the capacity of regional economic communities to support member
states in the fight against corruption through advice on harmonisation of legal
instruments, facilitation of mutual support, training, the exchange of
information and law enforcement; 
* the improvement of the capacity of national legislatures to provide oversight,
ensure accountability and establish appropriate laws to fight corruption; 
* the need for interstate cooperation in the recovery and return of unlawfully
appropriated public resources and assets to African states from which they were
plundered; 
* the need for developed states to assist the fight against corruption by
facilitating access to witnesses, documents and companies within their
jurisdictions; 
* the establishment of protocols for improved coordination and cooperation with
respect to interstate corruption; 
* the establishment of a common system for measuring integrity, which goes
beyond perceptions of corruption; 
* the creation of a national integrity framework based on good practices across
the continent; 
* facilitation of the establishment of Financial Intelligence Units as
mechanisms for preventing and combating corruption. 

The forum adopted a strong programme of action with tight deadlines and targets.
This says that African Union member states will ratify the AU Anti-corruption
Convention by December 2007; embark on prevention and awareness campaigns; the
creation by February 2008 of a National Integrity Framework by the AU
Commission, regional economic communities and African states.

The AU Commission will establish protocols for improved coordination and
cooperation with respect to interstate corruption by July 2008. Regional
Economic Communities will establish dedicated systems to provide anti-corruption
support to member states as of December 2008.

What emerged from the forum is that corruption is a systemic and institutional
global phenomenon involving all sectors of society. It prevails in both
developed and developing countries and undermines social cohesion and values,
erodes the social fabric of African societies, and impacts most profoundly on
the poor and on governance globally.

Corruption impedes development, undermines democratic processes and corporate
governance. Corruption engenders perverse political dependencies, lost political
opportunities to improve the general well-being of the citizenry and fosters a
climate of mistrust particularly of public officials. The losses that accrue
from a culture of permissiveness with respect to corruption include a loss of
revenue, loss of trust, loss of values, loss of credibility and legitimacy and a
loss of the democratic ethos and impulse within institutions and organisations.
Africa is responsible for its destiny and that of her peoples. African nations
have implemented numerous measures to prevent and combat corruption.

Incidents of corruption in South Africa can be reported by calling the anti-
corruption hotline on 0800 701 701.

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