Perpetrators of corruption involving millions of Covid-19 funds should “be pursued and face the full wrath of the law,” former finance minister Tito Mboweni has said.
Delivering the 7th Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Annual Lecture on values-based leadership hosted by Rhodes University on Tuesday, Mboweni said it was a great betrayal to see the looting of the limited resources that the government had pooled together to fight Covid-19.
“It is a great betrayal that our efforts to save lives and support livelihoods were undermined by shameful and exploitive acts of corruption,” Mboweni said, adding that those who stole the funds are like “rats and mice.”
He added: “We put good systems in place to the best of our ability but the rats and mice always found a way to overcome this.”
The former minister noted that “there are too many people in positions of leadership and power throughout the global political, economic and financial system who do not seem to realise the consequences of participating in or condoning corruption.”
He said years of poor governance and leadership failures had compounded the economic crisis that has impeded the growth and advancement that South Africa had envisaged in the early years.
“In South Africa and, indeed, in many other parts of the world, greed and corruption have created a credibility crisis in government at national, provincial and local levels,” he said.
Mboweni, who left government in August, said the pursuit of wealth, rather than a commitment to serving the people, had created a malevolent culture in society that was becoming more and more difficult to undo.
NM/jn/APA