[nectar_dropcap color=”#27ccc0″]O[/nectar_dropcap]n the back of launch on 14 May of the new National Anti-Corruption Strategy discussion document, the Public Service Commission seeks to breathe life into the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF), which fell into disarray in 2012. To this end, PARI Research Manager Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi has been appointed to a committee that will help revive the NACF.
Government, in partnership with civil society and business, launched the NACF in 2001. The Forum was intended to provide a platform to discuss corruption in South Africa and make decisions about how to conduct anti-corruption work. Each partner sector is represented by 10 members, who are nominated by their respective constituencies, and are listed on the NACF website.
Following the first inception summit in 1999, the Forum convened three summits in three-year intervals: – the second was led by government, including the Public Service Commission, in 2005; business, represented by members of Business Unity South Africa, convened the third one in 2008; and civil society, led by COSATU, convened the fourth summit in 2011. The fourth phase saw the collapse of the Forum.
This year, former Minister of Public Service and Administration Ngoako Ramatlhodi began the process of reviving the NACF, in line with the new National Anti-Corruption Strategy, and his successor, Faith Muthambi, is carrying the baton forward.
As part of this process, Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi has been appointed to a committee that will review why the previous NACF failed. The committee is chaired by Dumisani Hlophe, from the UNISA School of Governance, and includes the president of the Progressive Professionals Forum, Mzwanele Jimmy Manyi.