South Africa's fight against government corruption yielding results

South African has recovered millions of rand, as it ups its fight against a wave of corruption within the government.

Revealing several investigations into corrupt activities at a number of government entities, Minister in the Presidency, Jeff Radebe said “progress was being made in the fight against corruption but more could be done”.

“Corruption is cancer and depriving citizens of what they are entitled to in terms of services from the State,” Radebe told a media briefing in Cape Town, adding that there was an urgent need to speed up the process of investigations in government departments and the justice department.

The anti-corruption task team recorded close to 550 incidents by the end of March 2014 against 300 incidents by March 2013.

“[The] government is sending a strong message to international investors that there is a high level of trust in the country and it’s safe to invest here,” Radebe said.

“We have to be transparent about uprooting corruption and not only look good, but that we are doing it to create a better life for the people in SA.”

He said people who want to invest in the country must predict what procedures are and the justice system must work.

Radebe added that “no one was above the law and that President Jacob Zuma was not dodging corruption charges”.

Tax payers had to fork out R246 million ($23.8 million) on the President’s private homestead Nkandla in Kwazulu-Natal and opposition party members are demanding that Zuma pays back some of the money.

An investigation in the Eastern Cape at its Educations department led to the special investigations unit recovering close to R6 million with several arrests.

An investigation into World Cup related corrupt activities by the Department of Arts and Culture yielded several high profile arrests.