Corruption and fraud is a relevant topic in South Africa and will continue to be so until it is able to be limited. Corruption is committed mainly by people in power as they neglect and take advantage of this power in order to better themselves at the expense of others. Fraud and corruption is the wrongful or criminal deception that results in financial or personal gain. Government officials, police officers and some unexpected individuals such as law officials have been known to commit corruption and fraud. There have been cases of corruption in the 2014 elections and the political parties have seen that it is something the community is concerned over. Each party has addressed this concern and suggested ways in which to limit this corruption. Not only is corruption morally wrong, but it causes trust problems between the community and people in power, the people who are meant to help society. (1)
There are ample cases of corruption and fraud in South Africa. All of which have a common theme of using money that does not belong to people or participating in bribes to either gain money or receive special treatment. Police chief, Bheki Cele was accused of corruption in 2013. He was under investigation, along with a government minister. During property deals in police headquarters in Pretoria and Durban, it was found that the deal was conducted in an improper, unlawful and maladministrative manner. The leasing of th...
... middle of paper ...
...d perhaps get away with the crime. (5)
The first thing the youth could do to help reduce corruption is stop paying bribes and do not allow our friends and family to do so either. We need to be honest with ourselves and try to be loyal to the community we live in. morals and values are developed at home, so if we treat our home, school and environment with respect, corruption will be limited in the future generations. If the youth learns today of the immoral behavior of corruption, the next generation of police officers, government official and people in power will have the skills and values to not commit fraudulent behavior. The can be taught to observe traffic laws, not to throw garbage around, respect elders and the law of the land. Youth can arrange Awareness programs like conferences and seminars in schools to help make society conscious about their acts. (6)
Serpico (1973) is a movie that reveals the true story of Frank Serpico who was the only honest cop in the New York police sector at his time. The film shows the realistic view of the corruption that was evidenced in the New York police and highlights the character of Frank as being honest and courageous. Although he started as an inexperienced cop, he later worked as an undercover officer and was determined to bust all the criminal activities especially the drug dealers and pushers. Unlike the other cops, Serpico refused to take any bribes from the wrongdoers. More so, he felt that the other officers were doing wrong by accepting bribes and wanted to expose the situation. The other officers were so corrupt that they collected more money through bribes than the salary they earned, a situation that did not please Serpico. His strong stand concerning corruption made his friends turn against him, placing his life in danger. The anti-corruption efforts of Serpico jeopardized his life at the hands of his colleagues. He was later transferred to the Narcotics Squad where he was shot by a drug dealer after his partners betrayed him by failing to support him. The cop was then rushed to hospital. The shooting made Frank deaf since it affected the brain, rendering
In my opinion, corruption cannot be stopped but it can be reduced with the willingness of the people, as I mentioned above there could be plenty of recommendations but it’s all up to that person to put the effort. I think corruption is a choice; we all have voices and rights and if we chose to do unlawful things there is no one to blame but ourselves. However, there is corruption in every field of job out there. Corruption has been around for years and years and it will continue to be there in the future, it’s something that no one can eradicate. All countries around the world are facing corruption even the most powerful developed countries.
When dealing with corruption, first question to ask or to clarify is what corruption is. NSW Research (2002) describes corruption anything from gaining materialistically by virtue of position (for eg. getting a special discount at stores) to engaging in ‘direct criminal activities’ (eg. selling drugs). Newburn (1999) believes that there is a thin line between the definition of ‘corrupt’ and ‘non-corrupt’ activities as at the end, it is an ethical problem. For common people, however, bribery generalises corruption.
Corruption is an individual and institutional process where there is a gain by a public official from a briber and in return receives a service. Between the gain and the service, there is an improper connection, (Thompson p.28). The two major categories of bribery is individual and institutional corruption. Receiving personal goods for the pursuit of one’s own benefit is personal fraud. An example of individual distortion is the financial scandal involving David Durenberger. Organizational corruption involves “receiving goods that are useable primarily in the political process and are necessary for doing a job or are essential by-products of doing it,” (Thompson p.30). An instance of institutional fraud is the Keating Five case. There are also times where there is a mixture of both individual and organizational corruption in a scandal. An example of this diverse combination is James C. Wright Jr. actions while he was the Speaker of the House.
Many people know about or have witnessed this corruption taking place and numerous attempts to rid of it have been made. It is not an easy task attempting to bring justice to where justice should be made. There ...
Known as a period of political scandal, many politicians engaged in bribes, lies, and abuse of power to further a political, social, and often personal agenda. The typical corrupt leader "will sell his vote for a dollar [...] turns with indifference from the voice of honesty and reason [...] his unalienable right may be valuable to him for the bribe he gets out of it" (166). Such politicians are an injustice to society because as they are elected by the people, they must act towards the betterment of the people, rather than for themselves. Furthermore, those who elect this politician to office merely underestimate their political and social responsibility because they "want the feeling that their own interests are connected with those of the community, and in the weakness or absence of moral and political duty" (167). Thus, under the control of the ruthless politician and the reckless voter, the true essence of democracy is
In the business industry, there are ethical dilemmas that occur on a daily basis. Some ethical dilemma can include stealing or even having fraudulent documents in order to get an unfair advantage within the organization. Another ethical dilemma that has been brought into the light is bribery. What makes bribery unique is that in various parts of the world, bribery has become an acceptable behavior whereas other parts of the world people would consider that as unethical behavior. In order to understand what is acceptable or not when trying to bribe public officials, we must understand the principles of what is considered to be ethical or unethical.
One may ask themselves, if law enforcement officers are working to protect the public, why would they commit corruption like they do? As it is described above, corruption is a big part in the law enforcement sector of society. The entire concept is quite complex although it may seem self explanatory to many people. Learning the many types of corruption and misconduct is only the beginning, then, to understand why the officers commit the conduct for which they do. With all this, it becomes apparent to the certain measures that need to be taken to rid society and police departments of the conduct that is constantly present.
In my personal opinion, youths should have very strong parental supervision from a young age, be monitored closely, and to be taught basic moral rules early on to prevent corruption and avoidance of crime only because of inconvenience. Otherwise, offending young youths should be provided with second chances and programs to change their ways and direct them to the correct path. In conclusion, I think that avoiding the interaction of offending youths and other youths could be important in avoiding the spread of crime, but a way must be found in order not to make the offending youths alienated.
Bologna, Jack, Lindquist, Robert, Wells, Joseph, & Jones, Peter. (2004). Fraud and corruption in public services. Gower Publishing Company.
There are countries that are not as lucky as America, where people have their rights taken away from them, like in Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea has a very corrupt government. It has been said that the voting has been rigged so that the president will win the election as many times as he wants. Most of the power is in the executive branch, so the president has most of the power of the country and no one can say anything about what he wants to happen. He president will harass the opposing parties so that he will win (Williams). In the article Equatorial Guinea HRW (Human Rights Watch) says, “Corruption, poverty, and repression continue to plague Equatorial Guinea under President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979”. The “...per capita gross domestic product...” for Equatorial Guinea is $30,000, but yet most of the people live in poverty. The “...Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE)...” rule the political system, you could say that it is a monopoly. The president of Equatorial Guinea will have a say in court cases. The court cases that are sensitive get brought to him and he gets asked what he wants to do (Equatorial...). We should care about Equatorial Guinea because arrest without reason, torture captives and give little rights to women.
As mentioned earlier, the social speculation is only one of the issues facing the police forces in regards to corruption. Corruption in policing impacts the economy as well. By distorting company’s competitive playing fields, undermining economic development, and reducing the quality of government services and infrastructure (RCMP, 2014). The World Bank (2009) had even described corruption saying that “Corruption is a cancer and no country, rich or poor, is immune nor is a multilateral development
I chose to research on the topic of why police officers engage in corruption, because it’s a problem that’s very sensitive to me. I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and whenever I thought of a police officer, I couldn’t help but think of corruption. I always felt police officers were only corrupt in Nigeria but once I started studying the criminal justice system in the United States, I realized it’s actually a global problem; some are just more exposed than others. According to Sayed and Bruce (1998), “Police corruption is any illegal conduct or misconduct involving the use of occupational power for personal, group or organizational gain.” They also referenced the South Africa’s law in trying to define corruption. The law states that whosoever offers
The existence of bribery and unethical behavior is rampant in the world market and may not change overnight. The question of bribery has been distilled in business literature as a question of ethics. In this situation at the airport with the customs officer, it is important to distinguish between business ethics and personal ethics. In a business ethics situation, the Foreign Corruption Practices Act would prohibit offering any bribe to the custom office – for example to free a shipment of goods that was lost in red tape (Pitman & Sanford, 2006). Most companies also have policies against bribery as well. In this situation, however the main issue at hand is that of personal ethics. When in a situation where your company is unknown and there is no business being conducted, normal business ethics and laws (including FCPA) do not apply only personal ethical standards.
Conceptualizing Corruption in South Africa Conceptualizing Corruption in South Africa Amr Taha El Baba Lebanese American University SPECIFIC PURPOSE: To persuade my audience that corruption could cripple the progress in South African societies. Crime and corruption are not relevant to the degree of poverty present in a country as some of you might think. Corruption is a social phenomenon that every society deals with, regardless of the level of development in the country. What makes corruption a dangerous social phenomenon is its ability to adapt to the conditions present in any country.