Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Thieving officials 'cross the line of decency' Cape Correspondent CAPE TOWN Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka yesterday criticised officials who stole from the poor, accusing them of corruption in the highest degree, a level of immorality which cannot be tolerated and must be rooted out.

She said at a South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Moral Regeneration Movement conference that it was unacceptable for public servants to underperform and worse to cheat and steal from the state. Development was not only about society's material needs but also about healing from within. While government created safety nets to deal with extreme poverty, providing social grants and child support grants was unsustainable. We have to make unconditional commitments to pensioners and categories of disabled people but for others we must facilitate an exit to economically sustainable activities, without taking away the safety nets from those who need them. But more needed to be done, as there were still unacceptable numbers of South Africans unemployed and living in poverty, she said. The work we do in poverty alleviation is morally correct. It shows that we are a caring and moral state. Members in uniform such as the SANDF and police had to live by the highest possible standards, exhibiting a higher public service ethos, spirit and public morality.

Anything less is traumatising to society because our people need standards, they need heroes, they need people to look up to, and they need role models and mentors. Protectors of society could not abuse or present a danger to society. Just as health workers have to care and bankers cannot be robbers, chief financial officers cannot be caught with their hands in the cookie jar, so are you in that special category who must be guardians of good values.

Disgracing one's uniform and profession takes away not only from the dignity of the affected member but hurts the collective image of even the innocent, so we cannot stand by and allow it.

It is everyone's duty to protect the image of the force, to whistle-blow, and if you do not you become part of the problem, said Mlambo-Ngcuka Officials who stole from feeding schemes or gave substandard ser-vice, especially to the poor, crossed the line of decency, she said.