The South African government has announced the formation of a new anti-corruption team. A cabinet statement announced, “The South African government takes strong exception to corrupt practices and regards the matter very seriously because of the potential damage that this could cause to the country’s reputation globally.” South Africa ranked a middling (which is to say not particularly good) 55th of 180 countries assessed in Transparency International’s “Corruptions Perception Index” for 2009. (New Zealand placed first, Somalia, no surprise, finished last.)
Establishing a mechanism to deal with corruption is, of course, simply the first step in this process. The most important step will be giving the body teeth to root out corruption wherever they find it. Whether the ANC will have the stomach for that bit will be the real test of the party’s, and as a very real consequence the country’s, commitment to transparency and weeding out corruption.