Bishops Condemn Corruption, Politicking

by Admin · February 1, 2023

Kanye House blessing before plenary begins. Photo: Fr Paul Tatu

The bishops of South Africa have strongly condemned corruption, incompetence and party politics, but also said that the poor must take greater “responsibility and initiative within the scope and the means available to them”.

While the Church must stand with poor and marginalised, the bishops affirmed the dismissal of the “romanticisation or canonisation of the poor” by the late Fr Albert Nolan OP in his book Hope in an Age of Despair.

“However, we are troubled by the phenomenon of the poor failing to take responsibility and initiative within the scope and the means available to them, choosing instead to depend on and rely only on government grants. The morally right government policy of giving grants to the poor and the elderly has unfortunately engendered a culture of dependency and laziness, where people do not make use of available opportunities and do what they can to earn their living,” the bishops said in a statement issued after their January plenary session in Pretoria.

“Even more troubling is the problem of poor people engaging in criminal activities. Part of the problem of electricity in South Africa that is rarely spoken about is that the poor engage in illegal electricity connections to avoid paying. Then there is the growing culture of vandalisation of property, theft, refusal to pay for services when one can lawlessness, lack of consideration for the other, the practice of littering, and the failure to keep one’s space of living clean.”

Kanye House blessing before plenary begins. Photo: Fr Paul Tatu

The bishops challenged “our people to appreciate their dignity and to do what they can to provide for themselves. The poor must also play their role and become responsible citizens”

The bishops also decried “the deep corruption scourge in South Africa”, in both the public and the private sectors, and the “poor track record in holding those responsible to account”, and “the poverty of responsible and ethical leadership on the part of many of our political leaders who put their personal interests and those of their political parties first instead of the common good of the people they are elected to serve”, especially in several metropolitan municipalities.

The legacy of apartheid should no longer serve as an excuse for politicians’ “failure to do their job and deliver the necessary services”. The lack of basic service delivery is not due to the apartheid legacy but to “sheer greediness and corruption”, the bishops said.

They also noted their disappointment with how “the nobly conceived policy of Black Economic Empowerment appears to be benefitting a few politically connected people and does not translate into the economic betterment of the majority of black people”.

“We continue to call for ethical and courageous leaders who put the good of the people before their own interest.