'Corruption not just a government matter' - Public Accountability Forum launched

A symposium hosted on 6 and 7 August 2012 by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) and Princeton University, in which several Wits alumni participated, culminated in the launch of the Wits Public Accountability Forum at the Professional Development Hub.

Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Loyiso Nongxa reiterated at the launch, what Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe had said, "Corruption is not a matter of government alone".

The Forum is a hub for the exchange of ideas, research and academic activities that aim to deepen public understanding of the nature of corruption and social integrity in South Africa.

Nongxa said in a speech at the launch, "Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, speaking at the Ruth First Lecture at Wits in August 2011, said that corruption is not a matter of government alone and that it concerns all of us, since it affects society at large. The Wits Public Accountability Forum aims to understand how this fundamental responsibility runs through every dimension of society, with implications for all of us.

With the way media reports reflect corruption, one could be tempted to imagine that this is a problem only in government, since this is where it seems to be most visible. However, the roots of either corruption or, by contrast, responsible behaviour are to be found much more intimately in the social realities that we all inhabit ¨C in how we understand the nature of society, and who we are within it¡­There are very valuable debates about what does, and does not, constitute corrupt behaviour."

Such debates preceded the Forum launch at the PARI and Innovations for Successful Societies Programme (Princeton University) symposium. Entitled Institutionalising government: international, comparative perspectives on corruption, Wits alumni were amongst the scholars and public sector leaders who spoke:

• Politics alumnus, Ivor Chipkin (PARI), What drives corruption in SA? 
• History alumnus, Simon Dagut (PARI), Preliminary thoughts on public service efficiency
• Philosophy alumnus, Barry Gilder (Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection), The Corrupt, the Corrupted and the Corrupters
• Social anthropologist, Kelly Gillespie (Wits Faculty of Humanities), An anthropological reading of the State 
• Development Studies alumnus, Richard Levin (Public Service Commission), Corruption in SA: A complex and systemic problem that needs an equally systematic and comprehensive response 
• Arts alumnus, Pascal Moloi (Resolve Group), Drivers of corruption in the South African Public service 
• Politics/education alumna, Anne McLennan (Wits Graduate School of Public and Development Management), How can we know the dancer from the dance? 

Princeton University's Laura Bacon and Gabriel Kuris presented case study research on governance and anti-corruption initiatives around the world (the US, Asia, Eastern Europe, South America).

• Click here to download the full PARI-Princeton symposium programme, including speaker biographies
• Click here to download a summary of the discussion over the two days of the symposium

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