Durban mayor launches anti-corruption campaign
Durban mayor Zandile Gumede has urged residents to report corruption in all its forms and guises in the city.
|||Durban - Durban mayor Zandile Gumede has urged residents to report corruption in all its forms and guises in the city.
She urged emerging businesses not to co-operate with officials “selling tenders”, and warned the unemployed against buying jobs in the city.
On Monday, during the launch of a city-wide anti-corruption campaign, Gumede said fraud and corruption were among the most serious obstacles to governance, economic and social development.
“Corruption comes in different forms, big and small. The most common forms are bribery, misuse of public funds and tender irregularities, such as favouritism. Other forms are to be seen in unethical and criminal behaviour, such as over-invoicing or colluding with suppliers to inflate price, stealing laptops and stationary from the office, and misuse of official cars,” she said.
Gumede said the anti-fraud and anti-corruption campaign aimed to address the weakness and gaps in the system which permitted fraud and corruption to take place.
“Through this policy, the municipality hopes to improve systems and procedures, change attitudes of all employees and the general public, and raise awareness and prevention in the city and province as a whole,” she said.
The campaign, which was part of the International Fraud Awareness week, was launched under the theme “jobs and tenders are not for sale”, which is being advertised on city buses.
According to the city, during the period July to September this year, 55 cases were opened at the city’s Integrity and Investigation Unit. There were also 79 cases arising from people e-mailing the city about corruption.
Dumile Cele, Durban Chamber chief, said: “We look forward to working together with the city in creating awareness and ensuring co-ordination.”
Daily News