Lack of administrative capacity a bigger problem for agriculture than corruption

The significant lack of administrative capacity and skills in government departments directly and indirectly involved in agriculture is more of a problem than corruption. This was the Agricultural Business Chamber’s (ABC) reaction to a report by the auditor-general on corruption in state departments.
According to the report, focusing on the period between 2005 and 2007, spouses, relatives and friends of 2 000 civil servants had been irregularly awarded government tenders totalling about R610 million. For the 2005/06 financial year, a total of R55 164 was irregularly paid by the agriculture department to two private companies where two department employees held interests.
CEO of the ABC Dr John Purchase said he hadn’t yet read the report, but the ABC hadn’t seen or heard of major instances of corruption in Agriculture and Land Affairs, barring the issues surrounding the Land Bank, which are mostly still sub judice.
“The intention of the ABC is to build bridges with government departments and guide them towards achieving productive outcomes for agriculture,” said Dr Purchase. “For the most part, the ABC has good working relationships with these departments. However, the appointment to important government posts of people who don’t have the necessary skills, is a major contributor to problems in agriculture. In my opinion, it’s happening far more in Land Affairs than in Agriculture.”
The release of the auditor-general’s report followed President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address, where he had repeated his commitment to root out corruption in the public service.
“We will pay particular attention to combating corruption and fraud in procurement and tender processes,” President Zuma had said. – Lloyd Phillips