Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize says rooting out corruption remains the cornerstone of achieving good governance.
“The fight against crime and corruption thus remains pivotal as we strengthen our democratic institutions and promote clean governance, hard work, efficiency and effectiveness.
“At the end of the day, it is not about being a full-time public servant but more about people who have dedicated their lives to serving the people. That is what public service should be about,” said Mkhize.
Delivering welcoming remarks at the launch of the 2018 Ibrahim Index of African Governance in Tshwane, in his capacity as the acting Minister of Public Service and Administration, Mkhize said the promotion of good governance is central in the “new dawn” that South Africa has entered.
The new dawn, Mkhize said, means promoting the type of leadership within government and society that people can trust and believe in.
“It means promoting a public service where people will do good even if nobody is watching, and who will also not hesitate to report any wrongdoing in order to promote clean governance.”
The new dawn is also about seeking to control the public service and its vast resources. Mkhize said this means that public servants need to focus on their work and not be distracted by business interests and greed, which enables corruption to creep in, seriously threatening good governance.
“We need a stable, efficient, corruption-free, caring and effective public service because the lives of our people depend on such a service being made available to them by their governments,” Mkhize said.
The 2018 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which has been produced annually since 2007, seeks to provide a quantifiable tool to measure and monitor governance performance in African countries, to assess their progress over time and to support the development of effective and responsive policy solutions.
As proud members of the African Union, Mkhize said South Africa remains committed to working with sister nations to attain these vital goals that are also encapsulated in Agenda 2063, which aims to end poverty, inequality and unemployment and enable people to live better lives. – SAnews.gov.za
