The world regards corruption as a bad thing in itself and a sign of rot in general, but it evolves in society after society for a good reason – it often becomes the most efficient way to get important things done.
So, what does South Africa’s corruption situation look like? South Africa’s position on the corruption perception index is not the worst by international standards, but it is not good. Our score is at the 40th percentile between the world’s cleanest – Denmark – and the world’s dirtiest – South Sudan i.e., closer to the dirtiest than the cleanest.
We are dirtier than a quarter of Sub-Saharan Africa, behind our neighbours Botswana and Namibia and in line with the former communist states Moldova and Bulgaria. Fortunately, we are not yet as bad as other former communist states like Ukraine and Russia. Our score has also declined since 1994. Why then is our state so corrupt? To answer that we need to look at what causes corruption.
The main cause is state control of the economy. When the sole means of earning a living, is to appeal to consumer interests better than other businesses, then business will focus on product or service quality and price. By that I mean if the only way you can get money is to persuade consumers to give it to you in exchange for a product or service, then you must focus entirely on providing something worth their while in terms of quality, convenience and cost.
When earning a living starts to depend on other factors such as official permission, then business must divert some attention to securing that permission as quickly and cheaply as possible. Often the bureaucratic burden, or the degree of discretion given officials, imposed by the state is such as to make bribery by far the cheapest and quickest way of getting things done.
If so, you inevitably get corruption because corruption is the most efficient was to improve life under those conditions. This is also how a population comes to prefer the services of criminal organisations, like the Mafia, to that of the state. If corruption also becomes a viable, if not easier, way for officials themselves to make a better life, then you must expect them to become open to offers.
The state will be corrupt to the degree the state exerts control on enterprise, allows officials discretion, introduces layers of bureaucracy, or bureaucracy is incompetent. If the officials in those jobs do not have the ability to do them properly, they will look for easier ways to make money. Getting a job as an official will be open to corruption. Tacitus said, “the more corrupt the state the more numerous the laws”. If he is right the number of laws a country has is a decent indication of how corrupt it is.
Ticks all those boxes
The government of South Africa ticks all those boxes. By international standards South Africa has a large and complex body of law and is highly regulated. The ANC’s aim has always been to be in control of every aspect of national life, most loudly on the economic aspects. We allow officials, like metro police, far too much discretion. That is why widespread illegal roadblocks, soliciting bribes, have become part of everyday South African life. It is serious when the means by which we enforce laws is one of the most prominent sites of corruption.
The current Parliamentary ad hoc committee investigations into corruption, and more serious criminality, among top police and justice officials points to how far the rot has spread.
Applying for licences, for say starting a business, involves senselessly going through several departments and can take years to finalise. Frequently the process results in failure to secure a licence altogether. It is hardly surprising that those planning to be productive feel compelled to look for short cuts.
Many of these departments allow too much discretion. We do not select bureaucrats primarily for competence. Indeed, selection depends partially on connections, e.g., ANC cadres, making getting a job as an official corrupt in principle. Bureaucrats everywhere call for ever more regulation because it gives them more power and greater discretion. That in turn diverts even more business resources away from solving consumer problems toward dealing with state barriers.
State enterprises, and opening them up for outsourcing some functions, has led to the phenomenon of corrupt ‘tenderpreneurs’. BBEEE and state procurement rules, insofar as they benefit select businesses in ways that do not contribute to consumer interests, are corrupt in principle and create considerable corruption opportunities and incentives. Government is not shy in advancing that form of unearned benefits as the purpose of those policies – essentially saying they believe corruption is good.
Think corruption is good
In my opinion they are not ignorant of that connection and really do think corruption is good. After hearing what the president and a few ministers say in parliament, I get the impression they even believe corruption (whether it is part of BBEEE or not) is sound and ethical economics.
In Why Nations Fail, Nobel laureates Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson make the point that many third-world governments know what sound economics is but choose a different path. They do so because the elite prefers an extractive to a productive system.
Corruption is ‘good’ in the context of a state strangled economy. It was the only means of survival for Soviet citizens during the Soviet era. However, the phenomenon is a sure sign that the system as a whole is in a sad state. At the very least corruptions leads to a massive waste of resources and therefore a lower standard of living for most.
Countries with a controlling state, like China, occasionally make serious attempts to stamp out corruption without removing the cause. Unfortunately, because they oppose strong incentives at every turn, they become authoritarian to the point of oppressing, and even murdering, large numbers of their own people.
The only way to solve corruption is to remove the cause. We need to free up enterprise so that they can focus entirely on solving consumer problems in order to make a living.
[Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/governmentza/52167649050/in/photolist-2oBnJS2-2ntQs1f-2ntST5G-2oBjN6y-2ntST6d-2oBq4xm-2ntK9z7-2ntQmHp-2oBovBL-2ntQs4G-2ntQrXE-2ntSQz1-2ntSQCN-2ntK79q-2ntQmNj-2ntQmSn-2ntQmJm-2ntRAh9-2ntQpzo-2ntRAey-2ntQpt1-2ntK72S-2ntQps4-2oBpHMG-2ntK76u-2oBovC7-2ntQmHe-2ntQmRa-2ntQpAA-2ntQpxz-2ntSQzG-2ntK77G-2ntQpy6-2ntQprH-2ntQptM-2ntK75T-BpHxuE-AZTenL-28T6Etn-dCjnJY-28T6Ds4-28T6Eq6-28T6Ezp-2pYbCRU-2pYbCjX-2pYbCk3-2pYhEeY-2pYbCk8-2pYhEfj-2pYgqFk]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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